Digimon Zero Eins
by MaelStorm 12
Summary: 7 humans have been chosen to take up the roles of "Chosen Children", alongside their Digimon partners as they must face a perilous threat that threatens both worlds. Join their epic adventure across both worlds as they face off against strong foes and most importantly, learn more about themselves and each other as they come to accept their grand destinies.
1. It has begun

**Author's Note: I do not own Digimon in anyway. Please enjoy this story of mine. I am open to any form of criticism so that it helps to improve my writing. Please read and review.**

 **Chapter 1: It has begun**

 _Ye, Children of Man  
Thy born of human flesh  
Shall answer the call of destiny  
7 Chosen Ones shall rise  
Vested to them are the powers to challenge the rotating wheel  
With power comes consequences  
If you truly wish to conquer all  
You must not only be wary of the enemy your eyes perceive  
But the demons within  
Only then, children of man, shall you find the destination you seek  
Children of man  
Thou stand at the edge  
You are neither angels nor demons  
Yet thou possesses both their powers  
Angels and Demons, it matters not  
From dust and binary two worlds have risen  
To dust and binary they shall return if you fail  
The end draws near  
Time moves on  
Soon two shall become one  
And light shall fade from both_

 _Time is valuable and it is ending  
If you wish to challenge fate itself  
If you wish to alter the course of destiny  
Then heed my call Chosen Children  
Stand at the boundary alongside your power incarnates_

The night was dark and the stars were not there to observe Wallace. The brown haired, tall and lean young man sighed. He wondered whether he would miss this sky. There was no guarantee that his destination held the same sky.

He adjusted his unzipped mauve hoodie revealing a white sweat shirt which he wore along with dark blue jeans. From his neck hung a pendant in the shape of a wolf's claw, which he then held near his face. Wallace had affection for such accessories. He hardly had the chance to wear them in his early lives as no one bothered to buy one for him. An object of affection that pendant was, it was also an object that brought up its fair share of memories both good and bad.

"Why do you want to just run away from everything?" He recalled the anger in the voice of the person who gifted him that pendant. Underneath that anger however was worry.

"Kyrie…" Wallace tucked the pendant under his clothes. He didn't know why but he was a nomad by nature. Restless he was, never finding any sense of satisfaction in staying at the same place for a long time. Orphaned from a young age his repeated transitions from foster home to foster home had bred in him a lack of any ability to connect himself with anyone or anything.

"Aria…" Yet a small part of his heart was aching for the two people that had treated him like a brother. He wouldn't mind being scolded. It was better than looking at the empty air around you.

"Wallace?" A shadow popped out from the bushes. Wallace turned his head and gave a slight hint of a smile.

A jet black wolf like creature slowly emerged. It's body was as black as void with hard grey armor like protrusions around the shoulders, front legs and head. It's claws were as red as fresh blood and around its head were two red glowing claw marks that served as its eyes.

"Hey there, Fangmon" the boy greeted the creature, "had a good walk?"

"Yes" the voice was quite soft- feminine to a degree. "Is Aria here yet?"

"No, not yet" Wallace decided to sit down on a nearby bench which also had his large traveler's bag on it. "The park's nice, isn't it?"

"Yes" the pitch black creature replied.

Hyde Park really was beautiful, Wallace thought. He often came here. Fangmon liked the place too especially during the night when there were no stars like this one.

He felt a refreshing wind blow through.

"It's a bit chilly" Wallace remarked though Fangmon didn't comment on it.

"You scared?" The boy asked knowing how silly that sounded.

"I should be asking you that", came the brisk reply. "Are you sure you want to go to the Digital World now?"

Wallace sighed. He was scared but at the end he really didn't care enough. "I don't know about you Digimon, but someday us humans are all gonna die and disappear. We keep telling ourselves that we're special but we're not. I don't know how long I'll live. Might as well see as much as I can while I'm alive."

"Whatever you say."

Wallace heard footsteps. He got up as he saw a petite girl; 12 years old run towards him. The girl had short black hair, a fair complexion and hazel eyes. She wore a green dress.

"Hey there, Aria" Wallace greeted the girl who stopped to catch her breath.

"You're already ready to leave?" The girl asked.

"Yeah."

There was silence as the two looked at each other. Wallace at last walked up to her, crouching so that his forehead touched hers. He put a hand on her head.

"Be good" Wallace said.

"Take me with you!" The girl suddenly had tears in her eyes. "I don't like this world. I want to go with you along with Qingmon!"

Wallace looked sad. "Sorry but you can't go." Wallace brushed her hair. "Don't worry. I'll be back and I'll take you to the Digital World one day."

Aria was happy at that prospect. "You will?"

"Yes."It was a lie. He didn't want to but he couldn't bear the sad look on her face. Happiness was momentary and never eternal.

Wallace got up and walked towards the fountain along with Fangmon. He proceeded to take out a black and grey device from his pocket. He tapped some buttons and soon the magic happened.

The fountain started to gush out water rapidly and a vertical cascading tower of water formed. The boy extended his hand as it phased through the wall of water.

"Wallace!" The boy turned as she saw the girl run up towards him with her hand reached out.

"See ya" Wallace backed up as his body started to disappear. Fangmon leapt and soon both of them disappeared.

The girl stopped as the wind died and the water flow returned to normal. She waited a bit before she left unaware of the girl who had observed all this from behind her hiding place.

"You really had to leave didn't you, Wallace?" The girl muttered as she wiped the tears around her hazel eyes and too left.

Tapping his feet in accordance to the music blaring through the headphones, the blonde young man concentrated at the singular white piece of paper which he had already dyed with black ink in his personal standard font. With the help of the music he had encapsulated himself away from the storm of undecipherable noise common during the school lunch break. This had always been his favourite spot under the large oak tree erected during a community service project by the school provided ample shade and protection. The spot was located at the edge of the school grounds so away from the greater source of noise.

As the song was reaching the upbeat part, the blonde teen stopped twirling his pen and instead started tapping the table, having synchronized his muscles to the beat from listening to it so many times. He was entranced by music and considered it one of man's greatest forms of art. Taking inspiration from the lyrics being recited he would give form to the intricate tale upon the page and unveil the message of the essay he was working on in a stunning conclusion. Such was his task and talent.

Away from the watchful eyes of people, the young blonde felt a sense of security. He started to hum. He was not used to singing in a group or being critiqued and was quite shy about it. The emotions hidden in the lyrics and the beat were encouraging him. "Sing with us" and he did. He recited the words and synchronized his voice with the phantom singer. Hypnotized by the cadence of the song he closed his eyes and sang along in his soft yet harmonious voice. He felt like he existed in a different plane away from this Earth. This was his brief moment of elation.

As last words were said and the music slowly died away he could hear the rustling of leaves. As the foliage descended upon the earth like drifting feathers the young man had heard all that was needed. He knew what to write. The story was entitled "Reunion" and the story was that of a girl waiting for her lover who had gone to war with the promise that upon his return the two would marry each other. The setting was simple enough and the writer knew how it would end. The boy would die and return as a dead body and the marriage ceremony that the girl dreamed would be a funeral procession. That would be their reunion. The boy couldn't find it in himself to end it in a happy note. Such happiness was unreal.

"Seriously, Noel. It's just an English assignment."

She seemed a part of the light. It was the voice that surprised him and woke him from his moment of euphoria.

"Julia… you were watching?" Noel asked.

The girl smiled a smile which served to compliment her heart shaped face and radiant complexion. "Your singing is really wonderful."

Julia "Jules" Verde was Noel Keith's childhood friend having attended the same primary school. As long as he could remember Julia had always been beautiful even when she was young with flowing chestnut hair, the bangs resting on her forehead and striking violet eyes that sparkled like gem stones. She always bore a smile on her face and her caring and responsible attitude had made the young blonde look up to her as an older sister.

"Guess I should feel lucky for being able to hear that voice of yours" Julia joked. "Cause you hardly sing in front of anyone".

It was true though. Noel Keith, 17, was of average height and of a scrawny build. An introvert and a thinker, Noel, if allowed, could spend his days inside passing his time by thinking of anything he considers worth thinking about and reading any book within hand's reach. As a result Noel avoids contact with anyone outside of his small circle of confidants. Truth is that he isn't really interested in making friends and not that he lacked the ability to befriend someone.

"Savor it" Noel replied.

"Speaking of savoring things" Julia pushed a tray towards the male teen, "here's your pizza. Savor it".

Noel took the tray for himself and slowly took up a slice towards his mouth. The cheese was still fresh along with the anchovies and mushroom. He was careful so as it would not come apart. His delicate handling soon bore fruit as he gripped the delicacy between his teeth and tore into it. He then slowly chewed with the girl watching him.

"I'll never understand you" Julia remarked.

The teen kept on chewing- an act to annoy the girl. When he was done he replied, "You're a vegetarian. How are you alive?" Noel pointed to the vegetable salad the girl opposite to him was dining on.

"Stereotype" Julia replied to which Noel smirked.

They tried to observe the rest of their lunch in silence but lady fate had other plans.

Noel felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned back to look at its owner and a saw a young man with tanned skin who was much taller and stockier than him. His messy, jet black hair was like a mop over his head and he had a small goatee.

"Ain't ya gonna share with your best buddy in the world, Noel?" It was Hiran Kumar, a Sri Lankan exchange student. As evidenced by his rugged body, Hiran was an avid football player who quickly rose to fame with his easy going persona and skills as a top defender for the school football team. His prowess as an athlete was remarkable excelling in sprinting and occasionally wrestling if he felt up to it. Although a bit loud and boisterous, he had a good heart which may have been the only explanation as to how he ended up as one of Noel's friends. That and the fact that Noel was the only one to regularly help him regarding studies.

"Jump off a cliff" came Noel's straight faced answer.

"Sheesh" Hiran shrugged, "to call you a friend".

"Call me whatever you want. Just let me eat my food" Noel dived ravenously into the delicacy.

"Man, you're so heartless" Hiran commented brushing his long hair back. "Where's Eric?"

"You're the last one I expected to ask for my presence" Eric Dunbar, a tall 17 year old youth with a fair complexion and neatly combed brown hair made his way towards the group. His piercing black eyes and sharp cut features of his face gave off an intellectual vibe which was not at all wrong. Eric was a prodigy, specializing in computers and mathematics. Though his knowledge extended even further to the likes of art and writing which resulted in Noel and him becoming fast friends and having long winded conversations.

"Don't get used to it" Hiran replied earning a smirk in return from Eric. It was impossible to say what really constituted the friendship between those two. Their common interest lied on their love for football. While Eric didn't play often both were avid fans and often Eric made time to help the Sri Lankan improve his game.

"Well since everyone's here" the Sri Lankan began, "I'd like to say something. I have a football match next week and would like to invite you guys there."

"That's all?" Eric asked sporting an incredulous look on his face.

"Yeah, that's all", came the reply.

"Okay, I'm going" Eric replied to which Hiran smiled.

"Me too" Julia perked up at the thought.

"So that only leaves….."

He didn't want to go, but he couldn't say that could he?

"I'll think about it" Noel tried to give a convincing smile.

"Fine" Hiran grunted a bit. It was hard to lie to people who knew you well enough.

"C'mon" Eric nudged, "you could use the sun…. and a ball to the face". The remark was met with mock laughter by the one at whom it was aimed at.

"Sorry" Noel looked away, "just don't feel like it".

"Yeah whatever" The Sri Lankan student shrugged his shoulders.

"Hey guys" Julia took the lead before the conversation would turn even more somber. "Class is about to resume".

"Yeah. I kind of have a watch Miss Obvious and I can read it" the techie showed off his expensive silver watch.

"Show-off" Julia said deadpan.

"Ass" Hiran said deadpan.

Noel remained oblivious to it all though. It was the same during the next set of classes. "Like clockwork" he thought. When the blessed bell had sounded Noel impatiently ran back home. He wanted to stay away from people. He couldn't say why. It was in his nature. He hated crowded places.

"Oh, you're home Noel" Ms Keith was alerted by the creaking of the door and glimpsed her son coming in.

"Yeah, Mom" Noel replied in a voice barely audible. He made his way to his room.

He slumped onto his bed and pretended to sleep. In reality he was thinking.

He was thinking of death.

He wondered whether it would be like sleeping forever. Or would it be like wandering like a person who had lost both his senses of hearing and sight? What was the afterlife like anyways?

He could find out.

"Noel" the voice was faint and yet it freed the boy from his thoughts. He wasn't startled. He knew who the voice belonged to.

"Bokhramon? What's up?" Noel tried to smile at the creature which seemed to have been hiding under his bed. Said creature was a much smaller variant of a mountain goat. Its snow white fur gave away its kindhearted nature along with its eyes- a shade similar to that of a bright sunny sky. It had two long black horns which had one silver ring on each one and over its white fur was a layer of black fur acting as a coat of sorts.

"Nothing much" came the timid reply, "are you feeling all right?"

The creature called itself a "Digimon" short for a Digital Monster. It had been a few years since the creature came into his household. Noel was hesitant but didn't succeed in getting rid of it. The blonde boy found it odd that his mother consented to keeping a digital goat monster in the house. Could be that being a digital life form meant that basic needs needn't be met. Bokhramon could take care of itself. It explained about the Digital World, the place where it originated from, and that it along with 6 other creatures were sent to the human world to look for humans to partner with.

"Just a bit sleepy" Noel tried to smile, "don't worry about it". Although he was against the idea of letting the strange digital life form live in his house, at the present he couldn't say that he had any problems. Bokhramon had grown on him. The idea of bonding to a goat was very strange indeed- and that was not getting into the idea of journeying with said goat into an unknown world with some unknown people that probably had wolves and dragons for partners in order to fight some unknown evil. Also equally, if not more strange, was the device Bokhramon gave to him, which much to Noel's surprise (not) was called a Digivice. He wondered what it did. If he found out that the thing allowed him to transform into some Power Ranger wannabe he would instantly resign from the whole "Chosen Children" business. Although it would be cool. Especially if there were giant robot battles.

"If you say so" the goat relented.

"Bokhramon?" The Digimon perked up at the sound of its name.

"Yes, Noel?"

"Do you miss your friends?"

The Digimon nodded but didn't look sad for some strange reason. "I do miss them, but I have you as a friend. Whenever you're here I feel happy".

"You see me as a friend?" Noel was bewildered. "I thought you just needed us humans so that you could gain more strength?"

"That doesn't mean we can't be friends" Bokhramon tilted its head.

"Can an accumulation of data feel emotion and understand such abstract thoughts?" Noel thought. Is a being like Bokhramon really alive? He could only think that Digimon were but paradoxical creatures. It was at that moment that he realized where his line of thinking was leading him to.

"I'm sorry, Bokhramon" Noel blurted out.

The recipient of the apology appeared confused. "You didn't do anything wrong".

"I haven't been a good friend to you".

"You did care for me and show concern" Bokhramon began, "I don't know how humans make friends, but if you truly care for someone then he or she isn't a stranger. He or she could only be your friend."

Noel smiled. "Yeah I guess so". The outlook of life was simple and yet deep. He drifted back to sleep which suddenly came easy now that he was not flooded with thoughts. Bokhramon went back under his shelter.

It was sudden.

The world started to shake.

"Woah, what the heck?" Noel was dumbfounded by the quake as he fell to the ground from his bed. The effects of sleep were still there rendering his motions and thinking sluggish.

"Noel!" Bokhramon cried or more like bleated.

The shaking was huge. Noel thought for a second- a very frightening second- that the house would fall apart. An earthquake like this in London was unprecedented. The strength at which the ground was vibrating was calamitous. When the shaking seemed to have gained a rhythm and the effects of sleep having completely left, the boys' thoughts shifted.

"Mom!" Noel was screaming at the top of his lungs. "Mom!" He shouted once more as he made a break for it. Bokhramon was close at his heels crying his name.

"Mom!" Noel saw his mother crouching under the table. Dishes that lined the table were now strewn across the expensive carpet. He slowed down. The shaking had died down. He had to be careful of aftershocks though.

When the ground had showed no signs of revolting Noel slowly approached Ms Keith and helped her up. He quickly searched for any injuries his mother had sustained.

"Are you hurt? Did your skin get cut? Should I call a doc-"

"I'm okay" Ms Keith gave a soft smile so that her point could get across to her son.

"Are you sure?" Noel wasn't convinced.

Ms Keith nodded. "I'm sure, dear".

Noel then proceeded to help his mother clean the floor.

"I wonder what the damage to the city is like" Ms Keith pondered brushing away her golden blonde hair from her face as she swept the floor.

Noel worked on silently. He was almost done on his end when…

"An aftershock?" Noel felt the shaking again.

"Noel" Bokhramon, who had been silent for so long, spoke up. "I sense something."

The duo made their way outside.

"Do you see that Noel?" Bokhramon steeled himself.

Noel nodded nervously. He couldn't miss it after all.

It was not every day you saw two giant dragon Digimon duke it out in the middle of London…..


	2. First Contact

Chapter 2: First Contact

The creature resembled a copper dragon with metallic blue streaks adorning his battle scarred body. It was quite injured and neither sibling could think of anything that could hurt it. It looked dead but the breathing was faint and its body was still warm. They had stumbled upon this creature that was sheltering in the vicinity of their house.

"What is it, Kevin?" The tanned girl pointed to the copper dragon. She had short auburn hair and black granite eyes.

"Don't know" Kevin, who looked quite similar to his sister shrugged his shoulders.

It was then that the creature began to shift restlessly.

"It's moving" Gina muttered.

"Humans…." The dragon growled-or more like hissed.

"What do we do, Kevin?" The girl looked to her brother for advice. Despite being twins, Kevin had assumed a role akin to that of a big brother.

The dragon stared into the eyes of the boy who was condemned into making a decision. "Leave me be" was the expected answer. It would have to fend for itself as always. The advancing footsteps had alerted it.

The skin was rough and battered and the dragon's body was exhaling heat. "C'mon, we'll take care of ya" Kevin hugged the dragon close to his body. The dragon was confused at this act but it decided to go with it.

Surrendering itself to the human's care had led the scaly creature to a large room that was quite well decorated.

"You can rest here" Kevin laid the creature upon a soft mat and stroked its head. The dragon enjoyed it for a moment before pulling away.

"Tough customer" the 14 year old teen muttered under his breath. His thoughts were interrupted by a light poke.

"What do we do if mom or dad finds out? They hardly let us keep a cat. A dragon is outta the question" Gina tried to show as much anger and worry as possible in a whisper. The last thing she wanted to do was explain to her parents why a dragon was making itself comfortable in their house.

"A dragon can breathe fire right-"

"Don't even think about it" Gina stopped Kevin before he could finish his line of thought.

"Fine" Kevin grunted, "I was just joking. Don't worry I'll make sure they don't find this guy".

Gina was a bit worried by that last sentence. What were the chances their parents barged in right when Kevin finished what he had to say? Thank God that didn't happen. She had her doubts about this but she couldn't help herself as she advanced towards their "pet" dragon and start stroking his head.

"Oh so when she does it, you enjoy it" Kevin looked a little hurt in the ego but other than that was fine as usual.

"Her hands her soft and caring" the draconian creature retorted.

"See?" Gina smiled a wide grin.

It was then that the dragon began to shift restlessly.

"What's wrong?" Worry became present in Kevin's eyes.

"I have an important thing to ask of you" the dragon took out a device from under him. The device resembled an IPod and was blue and brown in colour. "I am a Digital Monster or a Digimon and I have come here from the Digital World" and thus the explanation continued covering topics in brief.

"That's a lot to take in" Gina was overwhelmed.

"Here comes the kicker. I won't force either of you but I need a human partner. The dangers are real and if you do agree to my wish then you'll find yourself in a series of battles that will determine the fate of both our worlds. Like I said, I won't push you. Think carefully. Once you accept you can't turn back. If you disagree then forget we ever met and I'll go somewhere else to find someone".

Suddenly the jovial atmosphere had turned solemn. Here two teenagers were entrusted with a task to protect both worlds. Not an everyday choice.

"According to you there are others who are faced with this same decision" Kevin felt a need to confirm some things.

"Yes. There are 6 other Digimon, so 6 other humans provided the other Digimon survive" the creature replied.

"So only we can do this? So only we can make a difference?" Kevin stared into the golden eyes of the dragon.

A silent nod was given.

"If you don't want to its-"a hand was reached out towards the draconic Digimon.

"Kevin?" Gina could only stare at the agreement that would take place.

"Partners" Kevin muttered.

"No backing down, the digivice will make sure of that" the dragon grasped the device in its hand and then extended it towards Kevin. They shook their hand and claw. A neon blue light flashed up.

"Registering fingerprint….." a mechanical voice spoke. "Registering Chosen Child….."

The light kept on flashing. Probably more formalities. It seemed like that the boy would be bound by a digital contract of sorts. "Link established" and like that the partnership was sealed.

"Viperdramon" the dragon returned the stare with its piercing emerald green eyes.

"Kevin" the boy didn't back down.

That was a blissful memory from long ago. 4 years to be exact. A sudden change in life doesn't always come so suddenly. It always seems like that. One is never aware of the small subtle changes and acts that foreshadow that change. Until destiny comes knocking at your door in the guise of a guest.

Although meeting a digital dragon that came from an alien world was indeed very strange, the succeeding events that Kevin were to face were even more so-so much so that that particular memory would seem normal in comparison.

That was to be the intended life of a "Chosen Children"- the ones who stand at the boundary between the two worlds along with their sentinels.

Viperdramon shifted lazily from lying on his back to lying on its stomach. Although the snake dragon didn't know where the other Digimon were he still hoped they were all equally comfortable in the shelter they had found. Viperdramon had little to complain about other than the morning when both the residents of the house were absent. Now that both their parents had left to go somewhere the Digimon savored the feelings of freedom. Granted there was still the house maid but his senses were not that dull so that he would be outsmarted. If he was though, he'd have a hard time facing the other Digimon so there was that to worry about.

He looked at Kevin who was busy working on his "home work" as he calls it. Viperdramon had failed to see the point in that as actual experience was much more crucial than reading about it. If someone had told him to read a book and fight a pack of Goblimon then he would throw the book away and start busting some heads. He would learn things on the fly. "It's different" Kevin replied. Naturally that led to an even more confused Viperdramon who later decided to drop the subject.

In between solving math problems Kevin made quick glances at the clock. Viperdramon knew what it was for. Gina had left to go attend some friend's birthday. It was awfully quiet without her. Gina was the more cheerful and kind of the twins. That was not to say that Kevin did not possess said qualities. Kevin was equally, if not more, caring but only to a select few individuals. Outside of this household though, most knew Kevin as a tough loner who rarely showed any emotion. The dragon Digimon felt a strange understanding of his outside persona, considering it similar to how a predator must act to survive. Dragon Digimon, known as Dramon in his world, were naturally feared in the Digital World but despite their fierce appearance and destructive powers many were heroes like the mighty Wargreymon and the legendary Digimon in the V-mon evolutionary line.

Kevin got up and proceeded to take out some clothes from his wardrobe to wear. "It's almost 9" he said to himself.

"Kevin" the dragon hissed and pointed towards the table with his coal black claws.

"Fine" Kevin grunted as he took the digivice and put it into his left pant pocket before leaving. "I'll be going, then".

Tom stood in the hallways with coffee mug in hand, thinking. It had been a few years since he had started working for D.A.R.P.C (Digital Anomaly Research and Prevention Centre). It was that day when he had graduated from a prestigious IT university. Everyone had promised him that he would make it big. While the salary here was nothing to scoff at, he never thought that work would be such a mundane affair. Here he was processing data after data. It could be attributed to being a human being since they were hardly satisfied.

At least there was Ada, his work partner. A prodigious Chinese researcher on computers, she was the only one Tom had maintained a friendly relationship with. Although there were other scientists, Tom hardly interacted with them and only did when it concerned work. Ada was different. She was beautiful to look at and would always talk about things like her family and her plans for the future. Tom would enjoy the chats he had with her.

God, he was in love. He couldn't believe it. A computer geek falling in love.

"Hello there, Tom" a tall and well built man walked in and greeted Tom. Said man looked quite dignified in his custom lab coat. His face had sharp features and he had shoulder length black hair. He wore shades due to having some eye condition-something he told Tom long ago.

"Oh, Lysandre, I'm sorry for slacking off. I'll go back to work right away" Tom tried to leave but the man told him to stay.

"It's alright" Lysandre smiled, "work is stressful. Relax for awhile".

The man was Tom's boss. Tom had always thought that bosses were meant to be the demon incarnates but Lysandre proved him wrong. He couldn't help but feel a bit inferior whenever he was around. Despite his cordial behavior he managed to demand respect, something Tom could never do. Tom used to be the laughing stock of his class. He felt a bit of resentment and couldn't help but feel that he now had the last laugh.

Whenever he saw Lysandre, feelings he experienced during his youth resurfaced back. They even contrasted each other. Tom's messy black hair and average looking face made him look bad in comparison. Then there was his friendly relationship with Ada. Maybe he was over thinking things but he couldn't help feel uneasy whenever Ada talked to him, a smile on her face.

"I often think of how bleak life would be if there was no such thing as coffee. Life would be as black as black coffee then wouldn't it." Lysandre began as Tom took another sip. "Quite a nightmare I would say. Only this nightmare you would see when you're awake. Coffee is a wondrous thing isn't it". Lysandre often thought about mundane things like the one he was going on about currently. He had a wide outlook on life. Tom somehow came to appreciate that.

"Yeah" Tom nodded, "couldn't live without it".

"Oh yes, indeed" Lysandre smiled. For such a dignified adult he did have a somewhat goofy smile.

There was just an inch of black liquid left swirling at the bottom of the white mug. Tom may have drunk it too fast as he felt a burning sensation on his tongue. He decided to endure it for now.

"Well, let's go back to work then" and both of them made their way back.

The laboratory was quite well constructed. The only thing Tom had to complain about would have been the poor lighting. Other than that the male scientist was quite satisfied. Working air conditioners and spacious sections of the room had made it a comfortable place to work in. Perhaps the best thing would have been the lack of papers. Such was part of the ideal office Tom envisioned. He had always disliked writing on paper which may have stemmed from him being scolded for his hard to decipher hand writing during his childhood. He would always perform a task much better on an electronic device almost all the time.

Work was a mundane affair. All he had to do was process data after data. Nothing interesting happens, other than glancing at Ada from time to time. Tom did feel a little guilty about it.

When Tom returned to his work he saw something strange. He disregarded it as a fault in the system but it was then that someone spoke up.

"Hey, what the heck is this?" Some irate scientist stared into the screen trying to fix the anomaly.

Tom couldn't believe it. There was a huge irregularity in the flow of data.

"Lysandre!" Tom beckoned his boss to come and look. At the corner of his eyes he saw Ada's face suddenly pale with worry.

"This digital distortion….. It's huge" Tom observed.

"A distortion this size would cause almost all electronics in London to go haywire. Even the lab will have a hard time getting through this" Lysandre concluded.

It was then at that moment that Tom questioned whether he was suffering from some stress induced mental problems or not. He began to see letters…..no words spout out from the computer screen.

"I want to get out of here" the text said.

To make it even worse different computers showed different words.

"I've had enough"

"Damn it, where's the exit?"

"Keh Keh" the text appeared on Tom's computer. From what he could deduce at that moment he could say that all of those words were actually being said, an audio record or something, and were being converted into text.

"The firewall is over there"

"So the human world lies on the other side."

This had to be some sort of prank by one hell of a hacker. Tom had to give props to whoever did this. In the next second the lights turned off and the violent quaking began.

Kevin had seen his life flash before his eyes just a few seconds ago. He had unknowingly hurt Gina by clutching her so tight so as to protect her from the slabs of concrete that would have crushed them had Viperdramon not melted through them with his Acid Bomb attack. Kevin found himself alternating between apologizing to Gina for unintentionally hurting her and thanking the snake dragon for saving his life like that.

"It's alright" Gina said her voice shaking. No one could blame her. A few minutes ago, her brother was escorting her back to her house since it was getting late. The next thing she knew the streets of London had become a danger zone when the earthquake struck. Then there was the fact that she nearly would have died. It was much to process for her mind.

"What the hell? London's never had an earthquake like this in years" Kevin tried to think but fear was making his heart beat faster and beating of his heart drowned his thinking.

"Destiny" Viperdramon gave a hiss.

Gina looked at him confused but Kevin knew what he meant. He thought back to the day he first met Viperdramon. Now, it seemed like it was a long lost memory. Time flies fast.

"This is what we had agreed to do" the dragon continued.

The ground shook once more and a roar resounded through the night sky. Kevin didn't look back for fear of his life.

"No backing down now" Viperdramon stared into Kevin's' eyes.

Against the shaking of his legs, against the resonance of fear, against the dread clogging his heart, Kevin stood up and took out the key to his destiny from his left pant pocket.

The digivice began to light up and the hologram of a monster appeared. A voice accompanied it, "Deltamon, Champion level, Virus Attribute. Special attack: Triple Force".

"What the hell is that?" When the power came back on, the image that appeared on the screens of all the computers had made them wish it didn't come back.

Ada cupped her hands on her mouth. Whether it was her just reining in her shock or offering a silent prayer, no one could say.

"This has to be a damn joke" Tom still held on to his sinking line of thinking even though the facts and expressions said otherwise.

They all saw the image of a blue bipedal dinosaur like creature with two tails and covered in blue fur and a white nose and underbelly. Both of its arms' consisted of one reptilian head each, one composed of a dinosaur skull and the other a mechanized dragon head. It was a walking nightmare and yet no one was asleep.

"Acid Bomb!" Viperdramon's belly swelled up as he regurgitated a barrage of slime bombs that exploded on contact with Deltamon's body. A direct attack would have no effect on a Digimon like Deltamon. Viperdramon's best attempt was to use the acidic properties of his attack to inflict poison on his enemy and slowly kill it. Until that his speed and small stature would have to carry him throughout the battle.

Deltamon tried to swipe at the small attacker with its skull head. Viperdramon managed to leap over it and the swipe smashed through some concrete buildings. Before the confrontation had taken place Viperdramon had told the two siblings to get as far away as possible from the battle zone. The last thing he would need to do was worry over them and get hit by an attack he could have dodged otherwise.

The snake dragon continued its long range barrage. After the next attack he could see some effects taking place. The enemy dragon grunted which showed the poisoning slowly working its way.

Deltamon quickly changed its attack plan and began to stomp on the smaller dragon. It tried to get rid of Viperdramon using its left foot but the snake dragon dashed away. As the foot crushed through the pavement Viperdramon quickly turned around mid run and fired another barrage.

It was then that Viperdramon realized that he had underestimated his opponent.

Deltamon blocked the barrage using his mechanical arm. The metal was resistant to the acid attack. With this Deltamon had found a way to completely stop the snake dragon's offense.

Still recovering from the shock of his plan falling apart, Viperdramon quickly took the full brunt of Deltamon's strike which caused the smaller dragon to go flying across the city street until he crashed into a structure that could stop his momentum.

"Viperdramon!" Gina's scream woke Kevin from his daze. "He's gonna get killed" Gina was on the verge of running off to tend to the injured creature but her brother stopped him. "Stay here and don't you dare do anything stupid" Kevin spoke and then ran off. At that moment Gina wanted to shout out that Kevin was doing the same thing he told her not to do but she didn't. She only offered a silent prayer.

"Viperdramon!" Kevin screamed at the top of his lungs. When he had reached the site strewn with rubble, he started removing digging through it in search of his partner.

"Viperdramon!" Kevin kept on screaming hoping an answer would come but none came.

"Damn it," Kevin became frustrated as he kept removing the rubble. "Damn it, Viperdramon, we need you". Truth be told Kevin wasn't searching so frantically because Viperdramon was the only one who could save them. He didn't want the dragon to disappear. He enjoyed his company and the change he had brought to his life and didn't want it to suddenly disappear. To him Viperdramon was a friend. Someone he could trust anything with. Even his life.

It was then at that moment that the digivice lit up. "What now?" Kevin grunted as he tried to hold back tears.

A circular screen was projected out from it and the several words popped up

 _Primary Digital Matrix Set_

 _Accessing Evolutionary Code_

 _Designation: Saladramon_

 _Code: ADLT1378_

 _Digital Evolution Process… INITIATE_

The light from the digivice resonated with the light coming out of the rubble. The debris soon shuffled and were tossed aside as a large shape started to grow out from under all the broken concrete.

Said shape resembled a four legged slender dragon with a long neck adorned with spikes. Its back legs had two large spikes mounted on them and its tail resembled that belonging to a snake. Its colour scheme was similar to that of Viperdramon as well as sharing his eye colour.

"Woah" Kevin was stunned by this sudden transformation that occurred. He didn't know what triggered it but he knew one thing. This would allow Viperdramon to turn the tables on Deltamon.

The transformed dragon, known as Saladramon, proceeded to rear his head as he felt the heat energy build up near his long neck. "Venom…." Smoke started blowing out from his nose as he began to unleash his attack. "…..Meltdown!" With a quick snap of his neck he exhaled a large blast of green and purple flame.

Deltamon had barely turned and then was hit. At that moment one could not say with a certainty what really took place. Either the force of the blast was powerful enough to severe Deltamon's skull arm from his shoulder or the attack had incinerated the arm until there was nothing left. One thing was for certain, Deltamon was now lacking an arm as it fell to the ground after losing balance.

Like a predator who had his prey trapped, Saladramon leapt towards the fallen blue dinosaur and proceed to attack him with his claws. Deltamon did what it could to defend itself in its vulnerable position with its only arm. Saladramon then proceeded to wrap its long serpentine tail around Deltamon's neck which slowed down the dinosaur's defense. Saladramon then clawed at the Deltamon's eyes. One of his claws came down and the fallen dragon roared out in pain as it was now missing an eye and some skin.

As a response to that pain Deltamon lashed out using its mechanical arm. Due to the large increase in size Saladramon had sacrificed mobility and dexterity and had no choice but to get hit by the flailing arm. The strike had sent the lizard Digimon crashing into some buildings. Saladramon quickly got up and proceeded to lash out in retaliation with his tail. Using its mechanical arm, Deltamon caught the tail mid attack and tossed its opponent into the ground.

"Triple Force" Deltamon growled as the mechanical arm shot 3 blasts at the now down Saladramon. The shots connected on to Saladramon's body as an explosion took place. Kevin looked at the smoking tower that now enveloped Saladramon.

The retaliation was sudden as a purple blast was fired from under the veil of the smoke. Colliding with Deltamon's chest the victim let out a cry of anguish as it recoiled back from the burning sensation that spread across the area of injury. Saladramon leapt out from its temporary camouflage as he dug his set of jagged dagger like teeth into Deltamon's shoulder. The blue dinosaur dragon couldn't seem to discern which was more painful, the burning across its chest or the teeth digging into its body. It flailed madly like a fish out of water, its two tails crashing through buildings. Having latched onto Deltamon using his fangs, Saladramon started clawing at it.

Deltamon managed to clear its mind for a few seconds from the pain numbing its battle senses. The mechanical arm took aim- not much of a trouble at this close range- and all three shots bombarded Saladramon as the force caused him to fly and crash into another building.

"Viperdramon!" Gina shouted as she saw the retaliation take place. Kevin grimaced as he prepared for the worst.

A resounding roar took place as Saladramon's head jutted out from the cloud of dust. At that moment the fierce salamander Digimon had tilted its head to glance at his human partner. Kevin could have been mistaken but he saw all that was needed to be seen in those emerald green eyes. Saladramon too seemed to understand as it now pointed those eyes at his prey.

"You can do it" the Chosen Child let his words drift into the air. At that instant, the earth itself shook to the sudden burst in speed that Saladramon exhibited in his charge as he now had his prey cornered.

Deltamon reared its only good arm for an attack but suddenly was met with something unexpected. A tail wrapped around the mechanical head like a whip restraining a fierce animal. With its only source of defense barring its tails temporarily disabled, it was an easy feat to get into close range with the dinosaur. In a seemingly impossible bout, Saladramon stood up on its two hind legs as he lunged forward.

Catching both jaws with one claw each, the demonic dragon started to heave as he pulled tightly separating the jaws until he could see straight into the dinosaur's body. It was at that moment that instinct became fear and Deltamon had found itself in a position that all predators fear- that of a prey on its last legs.

In return Saladramon opened its mouth wide. The predator turned prey saw a faint light and a spark and then it felt its insides being consumed by a stream of purple malevolent fire as the killer let loose its vicious attack. Deltamon could do nothing as the flames started burning it inside out. It was a few agonizing moments before Saladramon saw the dinosaur's body starting to melt from the inside out. Loosening his grip on the mechanical arm Saladramon let Deltamon go as the dinosaur took a few steps before the hellfire consumed him and turned him into ash.

"He did it" Gina looked at the victor as he let loose a victory roar and slowly disappeared in a crumbling light. She barely caught a glance of Kevin dashing towards the location which housed Saladramon before he disappeared.

"Viperdramon!"

Kevin didn't know what just happened other than Viperdramon winning. He ran, panting hard.

He saw Viperdramon waiting for him.

"Go home. The other humans will be here and will ask you two questions" Viperdramon growled.

"What about you?" Kevin tried to catch his breath from his mad dash.

"Don't worry. I'll meet you two later. Hurry. I'll distract the humans if needed" Viperdramon hissed to make his point.

No words were later exchanged as the two siblings disappeared into the night scenery with the faint sound of sirens blaring against the backdrop.

"What in seven hells was that?" a bushy haired scientist stood up demanding an answer from Lysandre.

"Monsters" Lysandre answered as cool as possible in a situation like that. "Maybe a little too cool" Tom thought.

"Are you messing with me?!" another irate worker chimed in.

"No" Lysandre replied. "Everyone" he caught everyone's attention, "we will try to cover this incident up. Until we have conclusive information, nothing shall leave these doors".

"Was this what I signed up for?" Tom thought to himself as he reviewed the recent turn of events.

In a badly lit room a person sat working on a laptop. The screen displayed images of the battle that took place.

"So it has begun" the shadow muttered. "Guess all the Chosen Children need to get together."


	3. Under The Guise Of Serenity

Chapter 3: Under the guise of serenity

"…..estimates suggest the damage is worth a few billions in pounds" the TV in the living room was blaring loudly prompting Kevin to decrease the volume. Kevin reclined upon the living room sofa. Due to the earthquake that hit yesterday school was off for a few days.

"Seismologists are baffled by this sudden quake as they struggle to locate the epicenter" the screen showed brief flashes of the condition London was in after the quake. One image showed slabs of broken building lying across the ground, another showed wrecked cars and paramedics working alongside firefighters in order to save people from their sanctuary turned prisons. Rubble had never been as terrifying as it was last night. He thought of how he and Gina could have been buried alive in that similar rubble provided their bones weren't crushed. He thought of the rubble under which Viperdramon was trapped under. He thought of the rubble from which Saladramon rose and brought death upon Deltamon.

Kevin didn't think much of the earthquake after what he had seen unfold last night. It was also for that reason that he felt a strong sense of uneasiness within his chest.

 _Primary Digital Matrix Set_

 _Designation: Saladramon_

 _Code: ADLT1378_

 _Digital Evolution Process… INITIATE_

He recalled those words that flashed up as an answer to his wish. It was those words, spoken like a magician's command that caused Viperdramon to undergo the transformation into the vicious Saladramon. Although Saladramon had came out the victor, Kevin thought of the cost of that victory.

The image of buildings crumbling remained carved into his mind. He could recall perfectly how the two Digimon tore through the manmade structures like a hot knife through butter. He could replay the deafening sound of crumbling architecture that permeated the night air during their battle. He clung onto hope that the inhabitants of those buildings which fell had followed earthquake precautions and evacuated their homes and went somewhere safe- anything that allowed them to be spared from such an unlikely demise.

 _Primary Digital Matrix Set_

 _Designation: Saladramon_

 _Code: ADLT1378_

 _Digital Evolution Process… INITIATE_

The mechanical voice echoed inside his skull cavity. His wish and his cries had been answered. Did he bring about this destruction? Did a selfish wish like this cause lives to be lost to a fight that no one had anything to do with?

The TV still showed images of the after effects of the quake. The shot showed the remains of a tall building. Kevin's mind instantly thought back to the fight that unfolded last night. Was this building brought down by Saladramon? Were people injured or killed because of him?

"Don't torture yourself" Gina's hand on her brother's shoulder broke his thinking. Gina had woke him up from such situations many times last night.

"I'm not" Kevin lied.

"It's not your fault" Gina reassured him in between taking bites off her toast. "If Viperdramon hadn't done what he did, this would look a lot worse than now."

She had a point. Though there were 6 other Digimon besides Viperdramon, he was the only one on the scene at that time. Had his initial plan of wearing Deltamon out using his poison attacks still succeeded, the long drawn out fight would have easily caused more destruction to the city with Deltamon flailing its massive body in order to get a hit on Viperdramon.

"Still….." Kevin insisted on himself being guilty. "Things could have been different".

"Half of London would have been testament to the strength of this copy cat King Ghidorah" the reply was blunt. Blunt but effective nonetheless. Gina possessed a deep insight which Kevin was thankful for now more than ever.

"Did anyone tell you that a tiger has more tact than you?" Kevin smiled having somewhat gotten rid of the guilt.

"Oh my" Gina feigned surprise, "you'd be the first one".

"Ya know" Kevin thought back to the day they had first met Viperdramon- in particular to the moment when their partnership had been settled. "I think it should have been you instead of me".

Gina somewhat had an idea of what Kevin was implying by that but she still wanted to be sure.

"I think you should have been Viperdramon's partner. Not me." Kevin felt a bit sad about the idea.

"No, I shouldn't have" Gina's answer came swift which momentarily confused Kevin. "Strength of mind and strength of heart are not always the same. What you did that night, rushing to Viperdramon's aid- that came from your heart. I don't know how the digivice works but based on what I saw yesterday it works based on your emotions. You're heart shined through that moment."

Kevin thought for awhile. At that moment last night he could only think of how it would have felt to lose his Digimon. He had always tried his level best to keep up his loner façade but at that moment when faced with the possibility of loss he had forgotten all about it.

"Thinking you're guilty and knowing you're guilty are two different things" Gina concluded. "I don't think I could have done what you did yesterday."

Kevin laughed. He knew Gina was not trying to cheer him up. No she hardly does that. She just speaks her mind- something he was grateful for. "How are we related again?" He joked.

"I ask myself that question all the time" Gina replied sporting a smirk.

The two broke into laughter at that.

"C'mon, hurry up. Breakfast's almost ready" the girl beckoned her brother to join her in the dinner table. Kevin followed with a declaration of "I'm hungry".

As they proceeded to have their breakfast Gina inquired about the whereabouts of Viperdramon.

"I wouldn't worry" Kevin replied. "He's tough and smart".

"Tough like you and smart like me, huh?" Gina thought.

-xxxx-

Seeing the destruction being reported by a newscaster on a TV screen and seeing it up close were two entirely different things as Eric found out. He had decided to take a walk around the city just to see how bad it was. He had seen such scenes in TV but when up close he came to understand how powerful and unpredictable a disaster could truly be. Humans still had a long way to go in this regard.

He saw some paramedics carry some of the injured away on stretchers. He didn't feel anything regarding that. While some people may think of him as heartless, he wasn't the type to cry upon seeing things like these unfold. He hardly knew any of them. Why would he cry for them? It was natural. It was reality. Not everyone would remain unscathed after something like this. If he cried for every unknown death he would be no better off than widows refusing to both live her life or re marry.

"No one really saw this coming. No wonder it did this much." It was true; London hardly experienced earthquakes of this magnitude. Almost all the quakes that do hit London are barely noticed. This had led, he thought, to a city built on the safety of ignorance. This had led to what he saw before him. Ignorance promises safety and yet offers nothing worthy in return when the time comes. Though what was done was done. Everyone should have now focus on rebuilding and repairing the city and rescue anyone who could be rescued.

He adjusted his sky blue shirt- a habit of his. He sported khaki pants and didn't have his spectacles on which forced him to squint his eyes at times to get a proper view. Staring at a laptop screen in a poorly lit room was a fast way to damage your eyesight. "I'm almost a liability without my glasses" the boy thought.

"Can you tell who I am without your glasses?" Eric turned slowly. He might have been half-blind but that didn't mean he couldn't hear.

"Jules Verde, beautiful girl of age 17 who is head over heels for a certain boy with blonde-"

"Forget I asked" the brunette came to regret even asking that question. It was hard to get a scare on Eric. Stoic was the perfect word to describe him, after all. He was hardly fazed and was smart enough to turn any situation around into his favour.

"I hope you are satisfied, Miss Verde" Eric replied mockingly.

"How could I not be Mr. Sassy Pants" Julia replied in an equally if not more mocking tone. She was sporting a yellow sundress that left her shoulders bare and blue jeans.

"Taking a walk around, I suppose?" At the question Julia grew silent. Like Eric, the purpose of the walk was to see the after effects first hand.

"It's horrible" Julia finally found something to say.

"It's reality" Eric thought but didn't say anything. He didn't want to anger her.

"This destruction, it feels so unreal" the girl felt torn up inside. Was it because she was uninjured and alive while others would have killed to be in her place?

"It's every bit as real as you and me" the boy thought. He kept on looking at the girl. Eric knew that Julia was strong. She would lament but she would always find a way to get over it.

"There's no use crying about it, is there Eric?" Julia looked into Eric's eyes. "It won't save anyone. Tears never can."

 _Tears never can_ …. Those were haunting words. Eric knew the truth behind it very well. So did Julia. They had experienced it firsthand after all. It was what connected both of them.

"I know I might sound like an ass, but how about we walk together. Maybe we can get something to eat later on?"Eric thought it would have been better to resume the purpose of this outing rather than lose himself in bitter memories.

It was a bit selfish but Julia still wanted to go with it. "Okay" she smiled, "let's go".

"Scratch that. I should have walked alone" Eric contemplated his decision.

Walking together with a girl and both of them not even looking at each other-forget saying anything- was a bit of a weird experience. "At least Hiran aint here" that was the last person he wanted to see him in this situation. If he did, Eric thought of the worst case scenario, Hiran would come up with some nicknames that would make school life unbearable.

It wasn't because Julia was a girl. Like Noel, Eric wasn't one for chit chat. He didn't know how to lengthen a conversation. While Noel and him did have lengthy discussions from time to time, it was different. It was usually based around a single topic and not like "Oh hi, how are you? Did you see the earthquake yesterday? Of course you did. I had toast for breakfast". That kind of stuff was annoying.

At the end they decided to take a break at a nearby park.

"Everything cool at home?" Eric had enough of this silence.

"Huh? Oh yeah, still the same" Julia decided to sit near the fountain, "mom still acts like a ghost, these days. Dad decided to hire someone to help do the household chores when I'm at school."

Eric averted his gaze.

"Wish she would go back to being herself" Julia muttered, "what about you?"

"Are we only connected by the pain of loss?" Eric thought solemnly. "The usual" and Julia nodded at the answer.

"So is Hiran's game still on?" the boy changed the subject.

"Dunno" came the confused reply, "forgot to ask him".

"I was personally looking forward to see Hiran get his cocky self handed to him. I heard Kevin Louis was in the opposing team. He's a mad striker".

"Is that so?" Eric knew Julia was feigning interest.

"Is Noel going?" Eric asked a question he very well knew the answer to.

"Doubt it" Julia was staring at the cloudless sky. It seemed that the quake had driven out the clouds. "Depressed individuals have an aversion to activity" she replied still staring at the sky.

"It's been a year and a half"

"An agonizing year and a half for him" Julia noted. "His father meant the world to him after all. When he passed away, all Noel and his mom got was a letter addressed by the military".

"Still…."

"It's not easy. We both should know better".

 _It won't save anyone. Tears never can_ …. The words rang in his head. He remembered the tears he shed on the hospital bed where his mother died. How useless they wore. The pulse was dropping as fast as the tears and then she was gone.

"It's okay. I'll be fine. This sickness is nothing" she said. What a load of crap that was. She could have just told her son the truth. She could have just told him that she would die. Then he wouldn't had gotten his hopes up and made her passing all the more painful and the tears even more useless. He shouldn't have had ignored the signs-the facts. Her increasingly pale complexion, the coughs getting louder; they were all telling him the truth. Yet he chose to remain ignorance and ignorance brought nothing in return. It was lung cancer after all.

It was after that did Eric swear that he would never cry again. He did not want to be so useless, so weak and vulnerable. He had no use for them. There were no such things as miracles.

"I think that's what connects us" Julia thought back to their childhood. Eric nodded. It was true. "We understand each other a lot more than others could. I guess we are welded to an extent" a giggle followed the exchange. "We know each other a lot better because of this and that's what makes us such good friends in the end".

Hundreds of faceless people you call "friends" or a few people who accept you for who you are. The choice was obvious to both of them.

"Maybe, we should get a bite to eat" the girl suggested.

"There's a good café I know nearby" Eric helped Julia up and they made their way.

The café had few people in it. Eric helped Julia to a seat and she began to skim through the menu. While she was engaged in sorting through the names of several delicacies Eric took out his phone to check the time. A sudden cocking of his eyebrow had alerted the girl that something was wrong.

"Problem?" Julia inquired.

"Yeah" Eric grunted, "My phone's messed up". He hated it when any electronic device didn't work like he wanted it to. "I mean it's a bit old, but even then this is unexpected". The clock was reading 0 hours and 0 minutes and the screen started to flash and fade.

"A virus?" Julia suggested to which Eric disagreed. "Doubt it. I'm kinda careful about things like that so I don't think that's the case."

Eric was a bit alerted when the other customers started reporting the same problem. He dismissed and decided to go through the menu too.

-xxxx-

From a dark alley, Viperdramon, who covered himself with a ragged brown cloth, observed the daily activities of humans. He thought back to last night as to how he had changed forms. For him it wasn't just a temporary increase in power. It was proof that Kevin was indeed a right choice. It was proof that they understood each other better now.

He glanced at the destruction. Last night when he was stuck under the rubble he really wasn't bothered as much. If he had met his end, then he would have simply not woken up. It was Kevin's cries of anguish that anchored him and brought him back to the shore of consciousness and to the plane of victory. He recalled his feelings as Saladramon. He thought of how narrow minded he was in that form. He attacked with reckless abandon and was toying with his prey instead of finishing him off. He could have deleted Deltamon in the first attack and yet only decided to blast his arm off. It was only when he saw Kevin did he regain control over his primal instincts.

He was not bothered by the mess of the city. He was bothered by his lack of control. He could easily top Deltamon in terms of destructive power. He could easily raze this city to the ground.

Viperdramon growled softly. There it was again- his lack of control. His viral nature took over his senses at that moment like it did during that fight. Digimon had attributes like Data, Vaccine and Virus. He was off the Virus attribute. Like it suggested he was made to destroy. He took pride in his form that was designed not to just fight but to kill. Yet he was not foolish enough to lose himself in his pride. When his viral instinct had kicked in during his battle he did not feel any pain. It was only today when he had control of himself did he feel the brunt of all those blows. He thought of how dangerous it would have been to lose control in a future fight with his teammates. Although his instincts render him immune to pain, it also clouded his judgement. He couldn't distinguish foe or friend.

Amongst the other 6 the only Virus attribute Digimon was Astralmon who was not really the type to share your troubles with. Then again, this fight was his to win. He had to quell his inner turmoil.

He looked at the two people sitting at a table at a nearby café. The two looked like they were enjoying themselves. Viperdramon shifted his eyes up. He saw the black ominous shade looming at the top of a building. The sun had made it hard to identify which Digimon it was. The virus dragon readied himself just in case the shadow decided to do anything unfavourable.

"I really wouldn't recommend doing that" Viperdramon turned around as fast as he could, claws ready to tear into the enemy that decided to mess with him.

"Woah there" Viperdramon had calmed down upon identifying the attacker. Said being had a human like body structure and wore a grey horned helmet. Its body looked like it was made out of some strange blue liquid and the wires were visible inside its body with some jutting out from its helmet.

"Oh it's you, Astralmon" Viperdramon returned to his normal stance.

"Yes, it is. Nice to see you" the Digimon's mouth didn't move when it talked. "Like I was saying, it's not a good idea to go after Wendigomon. No one wants to see Saladramon destroy even more of the city and in broad daylight at that."

"So what do you suggest?" Viperdramon tried to hide his resentment at that comment.

"Nothing. For now. We should only act when they do. For now there's a more active Digimon lurking around. I'll take care of that."

"What about your partner?"

"He's capable" Astralmon replied. "We all will meet soon enough. The end is slowly approaching. We both can feel it".

Viperdramon knew what he was talking about and so left. Astralmon did the same thing.

-xxxx-

"Thanks for the food" Julia was walking with Eric until the path diverged.

"No prob, always glad" Eric bid the girl farewell as he walked back home.

He opened the door to his house with a spare key. He wanted to shout that he was home but who would be there to receive him. He felt sad for a brief moment before discarding it as a dumb thought. No one was here anyways.

He rushed to his room and turned on his laptop.

"All right, Astralmon" Eric adjusted his glasses, "time to get to work".


	4. Gigabyte

Chapter 4: Gigabyte

"Target spotted" Astralmon was gliding through a gigantic sphere like area composed of digital circuitry. The place was better referred to as the "Internet". Digimons could move freely throughout the net and as a result saw it much differently than a normal human would. To them it was a constantly changing dimension that existed outside both the digital and human world. It was better described as a series of interconnected dimensions rather than one whole one.

While all Digimon could move throughout the net, the speed at which one could do it differed. Most of the times it was the case of where bigger and more powerful Digimon had a harder time traversing due to their complex structure and data size which might as well cause some slight disturbances to manifest throughout the real world net. Virus Digimon did it much better due to their unique builds. This had led the Virus Digimon to assume another Virus was causing mayhem around the net. Considering the rate at which the chaos was spreading there was only one possible culprit.

The target was a tall albeit amorphous purple Digimon. It had two long scrawny hands and its body was but a series of wires jutting out. It had a sphere shaped head with two wire like appendages for ears. It was devouring some of the walls of the sphere. No doubt it was a feast for data.

"Boost Spark" a small blue and purple ball of lightning was fired from Astralmon's hands. Although it was drifting around slowly it quickly turned into a streak of light and in an instant collided with its target leaving a blackened patch.

Astralmon quickly stopped gliding and its arm began to extend like a rubber band as it rammed something head on pinning it into the ground.

Despite being in a tight situation the rampaging Digimon had a crazy maniacal grin on its face.

"Woah" Eric observed the battle from his laptop, "this guy makes The Joker look tame".

The Digimon seemed to find the remark funny and started laughing out loud but Astralmon knew better. The arm contracted back as the attacker soon evaded the bullets of light that were fired from the enemy.

"Hmm, Keramon, Rookie level, special attack: Crazy Giggle. Self explanatory" Eric commented as he started fiddling with his Digivice which was dark blue and silver.

Keramon started spewing out bullets of light at a rate akin to sub machine gun. Accuracy was absent in each shot which made evading them child's play. Astralmon zipped across the battlefield. It was his home ground after all, which boosted his mobility.

Astralmon was moving like lightning as the blasts weren't even remotely close. When the rate of fire had slowed down Astralmon stopped mid way and extended both of his hands as they zoomed in on its target. The left hand crashed into the ground but was a few seconds late as Keramon flew upwards. From the smoke a ball of lightning was fired at the rampant Digimon which dodged it easily.

The right arm crept up behind Keramon, charging up for another lightning blast. The cackling of electricity had alerted Keramon to the surprise attack leading it to retaliate by firing a blast of light that collided just as Astralmon unleashed a ball of lightning.

The resultant explosion had led to a strong haze that littered the battlefield. Despite the obstruction of the view, Astralmon could still detect where Keramon was. It was one of his abilities. Having detected where the cackling menace was he charged ahead, claws bursting with electricity.

It was a just a flash and after that instant Keramon found one of its arms severed. He saw a glimpse of the one who did it and foolishly tried to block the next attack which had led to another stump where a hand was.

"Sever its head" Eric barked out a command-a command to kill.

"Spiral Claw" Astralmon called out his attack as the deadly, cackling claw drew close to Keramon's neck. Keramon ducked which led to one of its ears being cut.

The crazy laugh came and along with it a bombardment of close range blasts that connected with Astralmon.

"It's gonna flee, Astralmon" Eric observed the purple injured monster making a dash but it was too late. A tunnel opened up and Keramon was gone in the next instant.

Astralmon had recovered his senses and proceeded to give chase.

"I wanted to beat that thing before he changed into Kurisarimon, but I doubt we can now" Eric sighed, "its eating data like crazy. This guy'll regenerate in no time".

"I need to digivolve" Astralmon realized the situation. He should have severed Keramon's head first before blasting his body to bits.

"I'm hacking into the digivice" Eric was typing furiously, "hang in there. I'll unlock your champion form soon enough". He was almost on the verge of unlocking the secrets to how Digivolution worked. From what he had gathered he found out that the data for the Champion form of all the Digimons were stored inside the Digivice's memory and was protected by a lock. The Digivolution function was only accessible if a link was established between human and Digimon. Under normal conditions, the lock would be broken based on the biometrics of both human and Digimon. If both components were under high tension and were pushed to their limits the lock would undo itself and data from the Digivice would transfer into the Digimon reconfiguring it into its new form which was why Digivolution was only temporary as it was more of a power up than evolution in the true sense of the word. He went through the data codes as fast as he could so that he could hack into the system and unlock the Digivolution data on his own instead of waiting for a miracle to happen.

"I'll need it" the Virus Digimon thought to himself as he was slowly approaching his target.

Keramon had fully healed himself from absorbing all the data around him but for some reason was moving slowly.

"Maybe the excess data is slowing him down" Astralmon suggested.

"Or that digital Joker wannabe wants to fight you" Eric ran over the possibilities.

Astralmon decided to take up his challenge and charged in with his Spiral Claw attack.

"Definitely the latter" Eric noted as Keramon turned around and blocked the attack with its long arm. Instead of the arm being cut in half, it was holding in there like a shield.

Eric realized what the maniacal Digimon did. It had absorbed all the data around it and compressed it increasing its density until its body had gotten much stronger. "Crafty, aren't ya?" the boy grunted.

Astralmon was alternating between his claw strikes but Keramon's strategy had rendered his offense void.

"It'll be impossible to beat him like this" Astralmon had another of his attacks blocked. "We have to take this fight to the human world".

"Got it" Eric picked up his Digivice, "I'll be on my way, then".

He pressed a few buttons on his Digivice and a mechanical voice popped in. "Initiating Bio Emergence". Eric soon left to rendezvous with Astralmon in the human world.

Astralmon saw the portal pop up behind Keramon. Although the light from the portal was blinding, it paled in comparison to the light that started to swirl around Keramon. A light he very well knew didn't mean good.

The portal had led them to an empty street. Unfortunately, momentum was conserved during their jump causing them to crash into a nearby building just as they exited from a TV screen aligned in a shop.

Astralmon quickly recovered as he distanced himself. The fight didn't just change by virtue of the battlefield. Where Keramon was supposed to be was now a big purple cocoon like Digimon with bladed cables flowing out from its body.

"I believe the human term would be 'a pain in the neck'" Astralmon said to no one in particular.

-xxxx-

"I'm home" Julia's cheerful announcement was met with silence. Her mom was sitting on the living room sofa and staring into the television screen. Julia knew very well that she wasn't watching anything and just preferred to let whatever was playing on the TV to drown out the surrounding noise.

"I'll get the food ready in a jiffy." No response.

The girl made her way to her room.

"Oh, welcome back, Julia" the person-or Digimon- that welcomed her looked like an amalgation of various animals. It had the head and body of a rabbit with two big feathery ears. It possessed two long snow white fox tails that it had wrapped around its neck like a scarf.

"Hiya, Virtuemon" Julia perked up at seeing the creature and gave it a hug. Virtuemon returned the affection by nuzzling her cheek.

"Did you enjoy you're walk?" Virtuemon enquired to which Julia nodded.

"I met up with Eric and we talked about…." What did they talk about? She recalled the silent walk through the town. Neither Eric nor she made any attempts at conversation then and when they did talk it was a solemn talk at best. She didn't mind. Eric like Noel wasn't the talkative type but she still knew that wouldn't change the fact that they were friends.

"We just talked" Julia answered to which Virtuemon didn't make any further enquiries.

Julia lost a bit of her enthusiasm. She did think that the three of them were great friends but did they think of her the same way?

 _Jules Verde, beautiful girl of age 17 who is head over heels for a certain boy with blonde-_

It was in jest. It was true.

She did love Noel. There was something about those azure eyes and that wane smile of his that made all her worries go away.

And that was her tragedy. She was aware of her feelings but would Noel ever reciprocate those? She could look at him all day and yet he would never even bat an eyelid. She could talk about the world to him but would he listen? She could tell him her feelings but he wouldn't….

"Julia?"Virtuemon spoke softly.

"Don't worry" she sat upon her bed. Virtuemon crept closer to her and sat on her lap.

"You can always talk to me" the friendly Digimon smiled.

Julia remained silent.

"I know you're suffering" Virtuemon began, "you haven't been the same since Peter passed away".

Peter was Julia's elder brother. It had been a year since he passed away and yet the memories were still fresh. They had both welcomed Virtuemon into the household and played with her. Julia could still remember how they pulled Virtuemon's cheeks and eat cupcakes together. She would love the drawings her brother would draw and earn praise for. He had once drawn a portrait depicting the three of them. She knew that people had to die. Her only complaint was why it had to be so sudden. She thought the ways it could have been avoided. Peter could have taken a different route or the car should have avoided hitting him. It was not enough to die, but to die at a proper time.

"He's gone" Julia couldn't accept the loss so easily. She had cried so much near his hospital bed and yet it was for naught. Tears were useless after all. In his final moments, he used his remaining strength to wipe away her tears. After that his hand dropped, limp and the E.C.G flat lined.

It was hard for her. On one side she loved a boy who would never reciprocate the feelings and on the other side she was dealing with the sudden death of her brother. Yet she had to be strong. "Everything will be all right." Naïve words. Everyone who says those words hardly ever think how all the problems will be solved. It was like going to a place without knowing the address. It was easy to be strong when one is ignorant of one's surroundings. Knowing what lay ahead made strengthening her heart all the more difficult.

"I'm tired of being strong" Julia let her head rest on Virtuemon's body. "It's really tough and annoying."

The Digimon sat still listening to her words. "I'm sorry you have to listen to all my crap."

"It's no problem for me" the beast Digimon replied. "Don't forget that you have me Julia. If necessary, I'll take all your grief upon myself. I'll endure it for you. As long as it makes you happy".

The girl smiled. Her partner deserved it after all. "I'll have to make food for Dad when he comes home". Julia was about to leave when an idea popped up. "Hey, maybe Dad and I could take Mom out for dinner one day."

"That's a great idea" Virtuemon consented, "it should cheer her up".

-xxxx-

The room was pitch black except for the ghostly glow of the laptop screen. A boy was working fervently on his laptop. While tapping away, the screen suddenly froze.

"The heck?" Annoyance was present in his voice. His laptop was state of the art. It shouldn't have frozen up like this. The screen started to flash and turned blue. Text written in a language he had never seen before started appearing and along with it a download bar showing the progress at 15%.

Though it was only for a moment.

The bar was filling up rapidly until it reached a 100% denoted by a 1 and an infinity sign. The screen reverted to its previous form.

"A comfortable home, if I do say so myself…" the words were being typed by themselves on the screen.

The cursor was blinking, awaiting input.

The child was indeed confused but under that confusion was a primal instinct. Said instinct was possessed by all human beings. He was curious.

"Who are you?" the boy typed on the screen and finalized it by pressing the Enter key.

The words began to appear on the screen again, "a Digital Monster or Digimon".

"I don't understand" the boy typed back.

"I am in need of assistance but only if you are willing to agree. I cannot divulge too much information. Tell be do you believe in 'fate'?"

"No" came the reply which seemed to have taken the invader by surprise since no reply came for awhile.

"Interesting…." The text finally appeared, "are you willing to cooperate with me?"

"Is it to do with your kind?"

"Yes, but it concerns your kind too. If you do not want to join, I will undo all these changes I made and leave….."

"I'll join you; I have nothing left to lose"

"Wonderful, please extend your hand towards the screen."

The boy did as he was told. In return a blue crystalline hand came out of the screen and interweaved its fingers with the boy. The boy felt a device clasped between their hands.

"Registering Chosen Child" a mechanical voice called out.

"I'm Astralmon" a voice sounded from the screen.

"Link established."

"I'm Eric" the boy replied.

Eric couldn't say why that particular memory came to him at this particular moment. Astralmon had entered his life just after his mother left. It was because of him that he was standing here.

"Now's not the time to be lying down on the job, Astralmon" Eric made his appearance, panting from his run. He collected himself and held on tightly to his Digivice.

As if he was energized by his partner's reappearance Astralmon took to his battle stance.

"Time to turn the tide" Eric smirked. He had drawn his trump card.

"So I assume you unlocked my next form" Astralmon would have smirked in return had he a mouth.

"Yeah, already started working on unlocking your Ultimate form" the Chosen Child was almost giddy at the prospect.

Kurisarimon seemed to be annoyed as it latched one of its cables onto a car and threw it at the duo.

 _Primary Digital Matrix Set_

 _Accessing Evolutionary Code_

 _Designation: Cybermon_

 _Code: ADLT0752_

 _Digital Evolution Process… INITIATE_

As the car was thrown like a giant boulder a flash of light enveloped Astralmon. In the next instant, the projectile was split in half as the two halves of the car grinded to a half on both sides of Eric and the new form of Astralmon. Said form was a larger and ferocious version of Astralmon which now sported a forked tail and sharper claws. It had more armor around its arms and chest with the helmet taking a more alien like shape. Two arched crystal blades jutted out from his arms, no doubt responsible for slicing through the projectile thrown at him.

At a moment's notice Cybermon quickly lunged at Kurisarimon, ready to cut it apart. Kurisarimon aware of the imminent threat quickly retaliated with its Cable Crusher attack which involved unleashing all of its cables at once. With a quick spin and the help of its blades, Cybermon deflected the attack without sacrificing too much momentum. At a suitable range, a horizontal slash was thrown across the cocoon like body of the opposing virus Digimon.

"Not so impenetrable now, are ya?" Eric smirked. A deep cut was engraved upon the body of Kurisarimon, a feat Astralmon couldn't achieve but Cybermon could and did within the first few minutes of the fight.

It was hard to say whether the floating cocoon was enraged or not but it quickly retracted its cables and then lashed out once more with a spinning motion managing to cover a large area. Cybermon simply back flipped to avoid the attack but could do nothing to save the buildings that were sliced apart so easily by the attack.

Kurisarimon decided to use another tactic and instead of lashing out everywhere at once, it aimed all of its cables at Cybermon hoping to skewer it and end the fight but Cybermon once again proved to be a tough opponent.

The Digimon put up its bladed arms in a guard and soon all the cables hit him causing sparks to fly off and Cybermon to be pushed back. Digging his claws into the ground and having gotten a strong anchoring, Cybermon quickly broke his guard by making a horizontal cut sending the cables with their momentum flying away to his left and right.

"Wide open" the Chosen Child summarized the purpose of that maneuver. The momentum of the cables had caused them to crash into unintended targets and get stuck. Without any of the cables to defend him, Cybermon lunged once more.

Kurisarimon was an annoying pest. It got the cables out and now latched them onto a car and started reeling it in. Eric barely avoided getting his head smashed by it. Cybermon stopped mid run and then jumped out of the way making sure to kick the car into Kurisarimon.

Before it made an impact Kurisarimon tore the sedan in half with a quick snap of its jet black wires. What Cybermon wasn't aware of was of the cocoon Digimon's counter attack. It quickly unleashed its bladed wires when Cybermon wasn't aware of it. The wires had gotten a hold of Cybermon and dragged it down to the ground.

"You're not the only trap expert" Eric snickered as electricity cackled around Cybermon.

"EM Storm" the Digimon announced in a throaty growl as the wires that trapped it now found themselves conducting some thousand volts of energy as the attack struck Kurisarimon head on. The cables loosened allowing Cybermon to escape.

It was at that moment that Eric's Digivice lit up. "It's gonna evolve into Infermon" he shouted to his partner.

A similar light from before enveloped the floating cocoon though this time Cybermon was prepared.

"Attack it now, while its evolving" Eric barked out his command.

Electricity started cackling once more as a wave of energy was fired at the source of the light. An explosion ensued.

When the smoke had cleared instead of a floating cocoon, there was a white and red spider like Digimon in its place. Electricity also circled its body and it was in pain. Evolution unlike Digivolution was a longer process leaving Infermon wide open for an attack.

"EM Storm's ability to paralyze might not be too effective on such an immobile enemy like Kurisarimon, but its Infermon's worst nightmare."

"DNA…" the liquid crystal skin on Cybermon's arm started to reform into an arched blade.

"Delete it" Eric commanded and Cybermon leapt.

Infermon was still stuck, its body numb, unable to move. All it could do was wait for the executioner's blade to deal the final blow.

"…..Slasher" soon the blade skewered Infermon as its eyes twitched. Cybermon pushed the blade deeper until the spider Digimon started to squirm. In one swift movement, the blade was pulled out slicing the Virus Digimon in half and sending some globs of data flying. The remains of the Digimon collapsed and disintegrated into data.

"Well that's done" Eric sighed. "Let's go home then. We still have to get the other Chosen Children together".

-xxxx-

"Looks like the disturbance has stopped" Tom was working late. "Wonder what was up with that?"

"Was it because of that thing?" Ada suggested to which Tom knew very well what she meant. She was talking about the night when those two dragons fought. A lot of scientists left after that night. Lysandre was strangely okay with it having handled it quite nicely. Truth be told, Tom would have left too but Ada stayed and that was all that he needed.

"Don't know" Tom replied. Despite being the Digital Anomaly Research and Prevention Centre they weren't doing any preventing. Lysandre had chalked it up to the lack of information. At least the media weren't up their throats.

"There are a lot of things we don't understand yet. There's nothing much to be done about that" Tom began, "we should do the things that can be done." He had said that without putting much thought into it. He didn't know what could be done but it seemed to work as Ada calmed down.

"The numbers will decrease day by day" Tom thought as he seemed to be seeing less people every day. He recalled the lines of text that appeared during that fateful night.

"There are more of them" Tom thought to himself. He recalled the second beast that appeared. It looked like it was trying to stop the rampage.

"I wonder if there are some creatures that want to save us?" it was a crazy thought. But it was possible. Anything was possible after what happened that night.

"If so"…. The male scientist wasn't sure who he was asking a favour off. "Please save us".


	5. Resonance

Chapter 5: Resonance

"Mr. Scarecrow, are you alive?" The darkness was pierced by a shrill voice. The bearer of that voice was a crow which descended from the darkness.

The scarecrow was dressed in a shabby white shirt and torn jeans. His big straw hat kept his ruffled shaggy blonde hair under check.

"If not, you should die" a magpie flew in with a screech.

The scarecrow didn't respond.

"Sever your ties and then spread your wings" a raven landed on the straw hat.

"No one shall miss you" the magpie piped.

"Realize you're purpose. Then you shall truly be alive" the crow quipped.

"At the end of the road lies your destination. Death shall welcome you" the raven screeched.

"Leave me alone" that was all the scarecrow could manage.

"We cannot" the magpie fluttered its wings.

"We are your true friends. We will never leave you" the crow cried out.

"There is nothing truer than death, young scarecrow" the raven started to peck at the scarecrow.

The Magpie and Crow joined in intent on pecking the scarecrow to death.

"Leave me alone" the scarecrow felt the taste of blood on his lips. His face was bleeding as the skin came apart. He began to see red and then black.

"Leave me alone…"

Noel slowly opened his eyes. He didn't think much of the nightmare and was used to seeing such strange stuff. It wasn't worth waking up in a cold sweat just because of something like that.

"Good morning, Noel" Bokhramon stepped out from under the bed, "I think it's good."

"Don't know" Noel talked slowly, "I hate mornings". No matter how much he slept, Noel had a hard time facing the mornings. His head was still spinning. "God."

Noel got up and announced that he needed coffee. "You wanna eat something, Bokhramon?"

The goat Digimon nodded and followed the human.

"Morning, mom" Noel yawned.

"I don't think anyone's happier than you at school being closed" Susan Keith was watching TV. The news was showing.

"I guess so" Noel had a hard time processing a reply. Ms Keith chuckled at that. "I'll get your breakfast ready" her azure eyes shone much brighter than those of Noel's and her hair was a much brighter shade of blonde- somewhat golden. On her way to the kitchen she gently scratched Bokhramon's chin.

"The sudden electronic disturbances had ceased yesterday. The cause is still being discerned." Noel was about to change the channel but decided against it. "Strangely, one street was found yesterday to be littered with the broken remains of buildings and cars. Some say that it's connected to the electronic disturbances."

"Another Digimon, perhaps?" Noel suggested to which the goat Digimon nodded.

"I doubt it was Viperdramon who took this one down" Bokhramon thought back to the fight between Saladramon and Deltamon.

Despite it being somewhat far away the two giant draconic Digimon were still visible that night. Noel shuddered whenever he thought back to the destruction the two left in their wake. "So this is what Digimon are capable of?" He thought to himself.

"We have to fight someday too" Bokhramon's voice was barely above a whisper.

"I'd like to avoid that" Noel said with disdain at the prospect of fighting.

"I know you hate fighting, Noel" the goat Digimon crept closer to the human, "but do you think we can go on avoiding things like this?"

The boy remained silent. He didn't have much of a reply for that point. He decided to recline upon the living room sofa.

"Don't know" he finally admitted. "I really don't. I just don't want to fight".

Bokhramon decided not to further pursue the matter.

"Breakfast's ready." Noel made his way to the table and began to indulge himself in food. Butter toast and eggs. His favourite.

"Here's some for you" Ms Keith gave Bokhramon a plate of toast. Apparently Digimon had weird diets even if they resembled everyday species.

"Noel" the bearer of the name looked towards the one who called it, "do you mind going with me to the shopping mall?"

Ms Keith rarely went outside after Noel's father passed away. She would spend her days at home with her son and had other people do tasks like shopping for her. Due to her storing away all the things that need to be bought till the month's end the shopping list tended to become really big. That's why she says shopping in general when it could include anything from clothes to groceries.

"Fine…." Noel sighed to which his mom smiled.

-xxxx-

"Oh really, that's cool," Eric was on the phone with Julia.

"Yeah" Julia replied from the other side. "Hiran said it would be great either way."

Hiran had called Julia to tell her that the match would still go on but it was reorganized as a charity event. Eric agreed to the idea thinking it was all good.

"Okay, then. I'll see you on Sunday" Julia hung up.

Eric started to dial another number.

"Pick up", Eric was a bit impatient regarding such things as waiting for someone to receive a call.

"Hello", a husky voice made itself heard.

"Is this Kevin Louis?"

"Yeah, it is" Kevin confirmed his identity from the other side, "Eric?"

"Yeah, it's Eric. I called to ask whether we can meet up. "Got a few things to discuss". Eric heard two voices on the other side chatting away.

"Is it about the Chosen Children thing?" upon the mention of those two words the outside voices disappeared.

"Yeah. I think we should talk. You're coming to the game on Sunday, right? So will Hiran and Julia".

"Two other Chosen Children?" Kevin's feelings were hard to discern.

"Yep. So what about it?"

"Yeah. I'm game. Where do you wanna meet up?"

"Hmm…. How about Hyde Park, tomorrow?"

"When?"

"6 in the evening."

"Alright then" Kevin hung up.

"After Julia and Hiran, 2 more to go" Eric summarized the situation. "Astralmon, give me your predictions for Sunday."

The laptop display turned blue as Astralmon was observed. "Judging by estimates, something big."

During that night 5 Digimon had broke into the human world. Deltamon and Keramon had been eliminated. Wedigomon was on the loose. That left 2 more who hid themselves quite nicely.

"What about the Firewall?" Eric asked.

"It's slowly deteriorating. My estimates say we can expect something similar in Sunday." Eric grunted at that reply. They didn't have much time left. If an assortment of Rookies and Champions could enter then it would be only a matter of time before other Digimon started to make their way.

"What a pain" Eric sighed.

-xxxx-

Noel, sporting a full sleeved black t-shirt and blue jeans, walked alongside his mother to the mall.

"Can I wait in the park, until you're done?" Noel asked like a kindergarden kid.

"Okay. Are you sure you don't want to buy anything?"

"Nah, I'm fine mom. Call me when you're done" Noel left.

The nearest park was Hyde Park. Noel sat upon a bench. This particular area wasn't too crowded. _"_ Good" he thought. He took out his mobile phone and browsed for anything to read. He skimmed through the list and was about to settle on something before his ears caught hold of something.

… _. And I count my sins and I close my eyes…_

He could hear the song. He could hear the voice trying to harmonize itself with the notes. Noel got up and followed the sound.

… _.And I take it in. I'm bleeding out…_

He didn't know what made his legs move. He felt something. He saw a girl sitting on the grass, her black hair flowing in the wind.

… _.I'm bleeding out for you…_

The girl made another stroke at her guitar and with that the music died.

This woke Noel up from his trance and he found himself at arm's length to the girl. The girl then turned, the bangs of her hair hid her left eye but it failed to hide the tears.

"No-Noel" the girl stuttered, "It's nice to see you".

"Yeah" Noel fell under a similar spell, "nice to see you too, Kyrie".

The girl put her guitar down and quickly rubbed the tears away. The girl was Kyrie Gray, a student from Noel's school but in a different classroom. They had known each other through their shared love for music and their creative writings. The two rarely met but still retained a friendly relationship, listening and sharing songs.

"Bleeding out by Imagine Dragons?" Noel asked to which Kyrie nodded.

"One of my favourite bands."

"They're good" Noel sat down beside her. He didn't know why. He just did.

"I know right", she smiled-a goofy smile. _A smile that has hid much sorrow,_ Noel thought.

"So what's up?" Kyrie asked putting her guitar into its case and locked it.

"Nothing much" Noel replied hanging his head down low. "So why were you singing that song?"

The question must have shocked her.

"What do you mean?" She stammered. "I was just practicing".

Noel averted his gaze. _What the heck's wrong with you? You don't even know her that well._

"Hey" Kyrie found no answer. She grabbed Noel by his shoulder.

"Look at me" there was no aggressiveness in her voice. Just an emotionless command.

"Was it my tears?" the grip got tighter.

"No" Noel replied. "It was your voice". _Why am I saying this?_

The girl was evidently confused.

"I gotta get going, alright" Noel got up but quickly felt a strong tug that brought him down.

"Talk. Explain. Clearly" Kyrie was exasperated.

"Tears are hard to discern" Noel began, "They're a reflection of your sadness not an expression. When you sang…"

Kyrie strengthened her grip.

"Your voice resonated with your heart. Your voice resonated with the song. You were just expressing your inner turmoil in a different way." Kyrie's hand loosened as they both stared at each other.

"What's your problem?" Noel averted his gaze once more.

"Sorry. I know I should mind my business. I'm-" Noel was suddenly cut off.

"I didn't mean that" Kyrie sighed, "what I meant was, why are you always so sad and unsocial?"

"I'm not" Noel stammered. It was his turn after all.

"Liar" Kyrie smirked.

"I'm serious" Noel tried to no avail.

"Look" Kyrie was getting a bit annoyed, "I'm not asking you to marry me or something. I just asked why you're so sad. Talk. Explain. Clearly."

"Ladies first" that was all Noel could manage.

"Nice one" Kyrie replied with a mock smile, "now talk."

Everyone he knew had always said that lying was not his forte.

"I'm depressed and suicidal" Noel stated.

"Cool" was Kyrie's reply. Now it was Noel's time to be confused.

"Sorry. I just found it funny how you said it like it's no big deal. So…. Why don't you jump?"

"Excuse me?" Noel was even more confused.

"Just saying" Kyrie's smile disappeared, "I mean, if you really are suicidal, then why don't you jump?"

"Don't know. I guess I'm afraid".

"Afraid of death or afraid of living the people you love behind?"

He really didn't think of it like that. He didn't make friends because he didn't want to make his passing troublesome but there was still his mom to consider. There was also Bokhramon. _What do I say?_ He tried to avert his gaze again and thankfully saw his saving grace. He saw a small white shadow chase after a green one. Kyrie must have seen something in his face that made her turn.

"Crap" that was probably what Noel heard before the girl took off.

"Wa-wait" he didn't know why he said that as he took off running too. He was convinced the white shadow was Bokhramon. He didn't pay attention to the ringing of his cell phone as he ran.

Ms Keith had no luck in getting her son to pick up the mobile phone. Anxiety was written all over her face.

"Trouble?" Julia's mother was standing by her side.

"He's not picking up the phone" Ms Keith started to get hysteric.

"Calm down" the short brown haired woman replied. "Getting frantic won't help –"

"You don't understand!" came the sudden outburst. "He might-" Susan's line of thought was interrupted by the blessed ringing of her phone.

"Noel!" She cried into the phone.

"I'm alright, Mom" the sound of his voice was like the call of an angel. "I have something to do. Don't worry. I'll be alright." He hung up.

"Thank God" Susan hugged the phone tightly against her chest.

Katie was silent throughout.

"Um… I'm sorry about that" Susan hung her head down.

"So that's why you don't leave your house" Katie deduced.

"Yeah..." Susan replied, "I'm afraid he might…..He hasn't been the same since John passed away. He used to be so lively. When John left, he had taken Noel's will to live along with him to the grave." She was close to tears.

"Death does that. It's like a dreaded chain." Katie recalled the day of Peter's passing. "He's selfish to think it only affected him."

Susan looked at Katie.

"Just like me" Katie suddenly remembered that she had a daughter.

"Children are beautiful aren't they?" Susan smiled. "They're like flowers. So fragile. Yet so beautiful."

"You're following me?" Kyrie cried out in outrage while running.

"I'm not" Noel was slowing down. His legs were burning and his lungs weren't drawing anything. Before he knew it he found himself stopping. "Curse my lack of exercise." Kyrie was gaining distance. He'd lose Bokhramon's trail like this.

"Gotta find a few shortcuts" he said in between breaths. He glanced at the hedges. _I will remember this for the rest of my life._

After catching a few breaths he started his dash again this time jumping over hedges and fences. This was the best shortcut he could think off. Noel had gotten a few curses thrown at him for his recklessness but his heart was beating too loudly for him to understand. The sweat streaks fell like rain drops across his face. He felt something.

 _Does a dead person feel adrenaline?_

He felt a burning sensation. _I'm alive?_

He jumped once more as he caught a glimpse of the black haired girl. _I will remember this for the rest of my life._

He ran. He ran until he ran into something. No someone.

He was lying on the grass. Out of breath. He saw the world upside down. He saw the hazel eyes staring at him.

"You idiot" she was probably thinking. But no she kept staring. The two lay strewn about the grass, heads tilted to face each other.

Their hearts were beating in harmony. _Was that possible_?

"How's it feel to be alive?" The girl spoke up.

"Not too bad" Noel replied.

"You wanna run some more?" Kyrie smirked.

"No thanks" Noel smirked.

"What are you two doing?" Noel found himself face to face with Bokhramon while Kyrie found a Digimon standing beside her. Said Digimon was a humanoid green bird. It had two purple beady eyes and a patch of feathers stood around its head like hair. Its arm feathers hid jet black claws.

"Where were you?" The two shouted indignantly at the Digimon.

"I was just chasing Qingmon" Bokhramon said as innocently as possible.

"I was just running" the bird Digimon stated in a deep voice.

"Very funny" Kyrie rose up.

When the effects of the run had disappeared Noel finally realized the situation. He too got up.

"Woah, wait a minute. You have a Digimon? You're a Chosen Child?" Noel's mind was plagued with questions.

"Well this got complicated" Kyrie sighed. "The answer is no. Qingmon doesn't have a partner yet. In case you were wondering, he hasn't decided on his partner."

"The choice was between-"

"My sister or me" Kyrie looked sad.

"You don't want your sister to be a Chosen Child, do you?"

"No. I've already lost someone because of this Chosen Child business. Not again."

"Your sister-"

"I know she hates me" tears began to well up in her eyes, "I know that well enough. It still doesn't change the fact that we're sisters. It still won't change my love for her."

 _Responding to hate with love? Why is she telling me this?_

"I didn't want to know" Noel realized that he was getting too close to the girl. _Sever your ties and then spread your wings._

"You don't need to act like such a jerk" Kyrie saw through the façade. Through it all, Bokhramon and Qingmon stood silent observing the scene play out.

"I told this to you" Kyrie began, "because you would understand. You're a lot different from other people I've met. You worry a lot about hurting others. Do you ever worry about hurting yourself?"

"I don't think I'm worth it" Noel replied.

"Why? You think no one will cry when you leave? There are people who care about you. You just don't see that. You just reject all that. You're just like Wallace!"

"What is your problem?" Noel was taken aback. _Was Wallace…?_

"He just ran away from everything" Kyrie put her hands on Noels' shoulders. "You need a reason to live? Then I'll be your reason."

"It's none of your business" Noel was stammering.

Kyrie started to calm down after that.

"I'm sorry" Noel was backing away, "It's just I don't want to hurt anyone."

"No, I should be sorry. We hardly know each other all that well and I…"

"Don't sweat it" Noel smiled, "I guess I'll be going." The blonde boy carried Bokhramon away.

"What was that all about?" Qingmon asked when the boy was out of hearing distance.

"I don't know. When we talked, we understood each other. I could see him for what he was. I don't know him well enough but I think I saw something different today. I don't know what came over me. I think I saw a part of me in him."

"How so?" The bird Digimon piped.

"He wants someone to understand him for who he is." Kyrie was staring at the sky as it slowly turned a shade of mauve.

"I don't get it"

"Let's get my guitar before someone steals it" Kyrie let out a laugh before going deadpan serious, "if someone does, you're buying me a new one feather head."

-xxxx-

Tom found himself waiting at the Heathrow Airport. Lysandre had requested him to go about meeting with someone who was on his way from Germany. He decided to go with it even though it was quite late already. He kept looking out towards the runway hoping for the plane to arrive soon. According to the schedule the plane should be here soon.

His wish was probably granted as he soon saw a large body of metal land. Hopefully that was the plane he had been waiting for.

Henry Dunbar. That was the name of the person he was to escort. He observed the crowd of people soon coming out from the plane that landed.

A tall, fair man wearing a slate grey suit soon came out from the crowd. He had black hair and beard and wore square spectacles. He was definitely the person Tom was looking for. He waved his hand and soon went to greet him.

"You must be Dr. Dunbar" Tom sounded as cordial as he could.

"Yes. You must be Tom Morgan. It's a pleasure to meet you." Despite his gruff appearance, his voice was cool and controlled. There was no hint of arrogance that one would expect from a man of his stature.

"The pleasure is all mine. I hope the flight wasn't too rough" Tom shook hands with the professor.

"After a certain point, none of them feel any different. That is what I think from my experience." Dr Dunbar gave a wry smile.

"Is that so? Well we should be going. The car is waiting outside. I'll drop you off at your house." It was at that did the Professor grow quiet. He looked to be lost in thought. Tom could only wonder that he said something wrong.

"Is something the matter?" Tom asked.

"No. Please drop me off at Lysandre's lab. I'll go to my house later."

Tom was taken aback. He rarely found anyone willing to go straight to work after a long journey. He could only guess that Dr Dunbar had some difficulties back home. Nonetheless he complied with the request and escorted him to the car.

Once both Dr Dunbar and Tom got in, Tom closed the door of the Mercedes sedan and told the chauffer to drive them to the lab.

"It shouldn't take too long. The road is almost devoid of traffic" Tom said.

"So Mr Morgan, I've heard you are quite an accomplished man."

"It's nothing that amazing sir. Just a degree in systems analysis and communications." Tom knew how renowned the man who sat beside him was. Dr Dunbar had earned fame through his research on and his joint project with Lysandre regarding something they dubbed "adaptive programming"- programs that would continuously evolve and adapt to fit their purposes better. It was still in its early stages but it showed promise. Its uses were unlimited from evolving antivirus systems that would revolutionize network security to even medical uses should it be perfected.

"So what do you feel about your future?" Dr Dunbar asked a simple question.

Truth be told, Tom had never thought about it. "Why do you ask, sir?"

"No reason in particular. It's just that sometimes you find that you have everything and yet you find yourself empty and unhappy as if you never had anything." The professor's eyes were closed as he seemed to be recalling something.

"Probably marry the girl of my dreams and live the rest of my life with her" Tom spurted out an answer.

Dr Dunbar looked pleased. "That would be ideal." He looked at Tom for awhile and gave a sad smile.

"You remind me of someone. Those eyes gleaming with intelligence. You remind me of my son."

"Your son?" Tom asked.

"Yes. His name is Eric."


	6. Diamond in the Night Sky

Chapter 6: Diamond in the Night Sky

Kevin was waiting. He might have been a bit early. It was almost 6. He decided to lean against a tree and let the time pass.

He saw a tall young man with black hair and spectacles come in through the gate. The young man was carrying two cups of coffee.

"Oh, hey" Eric approached Kevin, "nice to meet you."

"Yeah" Kevin replied pretending to be unenthusiastic.

"Here's one for you" Eric handed Kevin a cup of coffee from the local Starbucks.

Kevin thanked him and began to drink his coffee.

"So" Eric began, "you ready for tomorrow's game?"

"Cut the chit-chat and get to the point" Kevin sported a frown.

Eric sighed. He wanted both of them to relax but apparently that wouldn't happen. "How should I begin?"

"How about you tell me why you called me here?" Kevin stared intently at the other teenager.

"To discuss future plans for the Chosen Children" Eric got serious, "we don't have much time."

"Why?"

"I'll explain after more members have gathered. It's a bit lengthy after all….."

"Better not be hiding anything" Kevin threatened.

"I'm not" Eric was unfazed. "I'll just tell you this. Our battle ain't gonna take place in this world."

"The Digital World?"

"Yeah. We have to assemble the team as fast as possible and travel there."

"What about the Digimon coming to our world?"

"All in due time" Eric replied to which Kevin grunted. "Tomorrow's a big day. Expect something like that night to happen again."

Kevin knew very well what he meant. "You can't be serious."

"The probability is high" Eric summarized, "I'm not sure just what will arrive through that portal. That's why I'm asking you to wait until I give the signal to attack."

"You want Viperdramon to be the trump card?"

Eric nodded. "I also want to limit the destruction to the city so I want you to bring out Viperdramon only when there's no other option."

"I get it."

"There's also some leftover Digimon from Wednesday night."

"How many?"

"Three. I'm having Astralmon search for them. "

"So tell me, what about the other Chosen Children?"

"What do you want to know?"

"How do you plan to recruit them?"

"Julia and Hiran will be present on Sunday. From there I'll let them know. That leaves two more."

"Two more?" Kevin was evidently confused.

"One of us has already left for the Digital World."

"Great" Kevin remarked, "What else?"

"Nothing much for now. Any questions?"

"Yeah, how come you're so serious about this?" Kevin glared.

Eric tried to return the glare. "You think I'm some kind of nerd who doesn't have a life. I don't care what you think. We're dealing with something that concerns both worlds. I'm not the kind of guy who likes to live his life like an ignorant idiot. People think that knowledge is a burden-they think it's better to live in ignorance than suffer the pain of knowing. I'm not running away. I know what I have to do. I hope you do."

"You talk too much. You assume too much too" Kevin's remark made Eric curious. "I just asked you what made you decide to accept this. You were given a choice, right?"

"I have nothing to lose. That's why I decided to do this." Eric maintained his cool and calm attitude.

"Are you suicidal or something?" Kevin asked.

"No, that would be my friend Noel" Eric replied. "I'm an atheist."

"Interesting" said the person who did not find the spoken fact interesting at all. "Any reasons?"

"It's a personal decision. I just don't believe in miracles and stuff. I can't find myself clinging to hope. It's a weakness. Hope and miracles are born from ignorance and I hate ignorance. No offense though if you're religious or something. If you want I can just shut up."

"Great. I'm assuming all of the other Chosen Children have some mental issues." Kevin decided to sit on a bench.

"I guess. So what about you Mr. I act like a tough guy? You really love to act like Batman, don't ya? You even talk like him."

Kevin was taken aback. In this short conversation Eric had seen through his façade while Kevin didn't get any worthwhile notions on Eric's true colours. "None of your business, Cyclops reject" Kevin snapped.

Eric sighed. From his observations, Kevin would make a fine leader for the Chosen Children. Provided he kept his temper in check.

"Say, how about you be the leader?" Eric proposed.

"Why me?" Kevin was a bit hesitant at the idea. It was not because he lacked the confidence but the weight on his shoulders could crush him. He could be emotionless and distant if he tried hard enough. It would just be like all those years back when he kept up his image as a tough loner.

"I don't think the others are qualified. Don't worry; I'll be by your side giving you all the information you need."

"Then why don't you be the leader?" Kevin snapped.

"I don't want to. It's as simple as that." Eric replied bluntly.

Kevin thought why such a cool, calm and collected teen, almost lacking emotions, would decline such a position.

"No one would take me seriously. Some of this stuff is crazy as it is and you look like the guy who could command respect when he wants it to. All we have to do is keep our stuff together."

"That's a dangerous way of going about it" Kevin remarked.

"We don't have a choice. We don't have time."

"You're talking like it's gonna be the end of the world soon."

"Cause it is" Eric replied, "and we're the only ones who can stop it."

Kevin nodded before walking past Eric. "See you tomorrow, then" Kevin muttered as he was leaving.

"Yeah." Eric decided to leave. He had some hunting to do after all.

-xxxx-

The night was beginning to fully engulf the skies of London and it was at night that deadly shadows roamed. On top of a building that overlooked a small portion of the large city was a black humanoid beast. A bipedal muscled creature covered in brown fur with only its face, feet and hands being blood red loomed. It had blood red eyes and a deadly mouth that would give any carnivore a run for its money. To complement its fierce appearance were two bone-like protrusions jutting out from its shoulders.

The beast moaned softly. It had made a mad dash towards the portal hoping to escape the Digital World. Now it found itself in an unknown environment without any allies.

A sudden noise alerted it and as it turned it saw a shadow move. The beast readied its arms for an attack but the shadow appeared right in front of it.

The shadow was a very tall, yet skinny black demonic Digimon with torn wings. It put its hand on the beast's forehead.

"This shouldn't hurt at all" the shadowy newcomer muttered as electricity flew out from its claws and struck the beast. The beast was stunned for awhile. Awhile…

Waking up with a roar, the beast leaped down to the road and started rampaging.

"Destroy everything you see" the demon Digimon cackled after it said those words.

The black Digimon turned his head for a moment to observe what was behind it. It saw a blue human like blob but it was only for a moment before a light encapsulated the new comer.

The demonic Digimon knew it had now had a fight on its hand.

-xxxx-

Julia had found it surprising how a friendly suggestion she made at a whim was suddenly the present reality. She had thought that a family dinner would be a great way to cheer her mother up but she knew implementing said suggestion would take some time. To her surprise when her mother had come back from shopping, she instantly hugged Julia and said she was sorry for neglecting her. Julia didn't know what her mother had encountered during the shopping trip but she was happy nonetheless. She offered her suggestion to which her mother agreed.

Julia was sorting through her purse. She felt her Digivice inside and recalled what Virtuemon had said. "Be careful and take the Digivice with you. Digimon should be more active during the night. If there's trouble just summon me."

"What's the matter, Julia?" Her mother asked.

"No, it's nothing" Julia replied, "have you decided on what you want to eat?"

"No, not yet."

"It's okay" Julia went back to looking through the menu.

"So, how are your studies going?" Julia's father asked. He had a full time job at the bank and so rarely found time to spend with his family. It was after Peter passed away that Russell Verde decided to spend more time with the remaining members of his family. He had taken a much more active role that was not restricted to go to work, come back home, sleep and repeat.

"Good." Her father was always concerned about her studies but never pressurized her.

"So you're still going to be a top vet?"

"Yeah" Julia replied with a smile.

Russell's phone began to ring. He left the table to answer it.

"How is Noel and Eric?" Katie asked.

"Eric is like himself. Noel….." Julia stopped to think what she would say.

"He's still finding a reason to live, isn't he? I met with his mother yesterday."

Julia remembered how Noel and she had become friends. They were like seven or eight when they met. Their mothers were already friends before them. Julia first saw Noel alone in the swing during recess. Julia had asked why Noel wasn't running around like the other kids.

"I just wanna go home" she could remember how he whined saying that school was no fun since he didn't have any friends.

"Why don't you make some friends?" Julia asked.

"I don't want to" Noel began to cry, "I just wanna go home. Why does mom send me here?"

Julia was taken aback by the sudden tears. She thought she had caused it. "Hey, don't cry. I'll be your friend if you stop crying."

Noel had put his hands over his ears. "Go away. You'll be bored being my friend. You won't like me."

Julia had put her hands over Noel's hands. "I promise, I won't."

"You promise?" the tears were stopping.

Julia reassured him with a smile and from then they became friends. They had recruited Eric a few days later and from then till now they were inseparable. _Aren't we?_

"Such a nice child. I pray he finds his way" Katie woke up Julia from her reminiscence.

"Yeah. I hope he does" Julia said.

"Oh my, we haven't ordered anything yet, have we" Katie smiled.

A loud thunderous crash was heard.

"What was that?" Julia found herself scared.

"Mo-monster" the cries rang out to which Julia bit her lips.

She quickly searched for her Digivice.

-xxxx-

Cybermon did a leaping strike but Devimon back stepped out of the way. Devimon proceed to lash out with his claws but Cybermon vaulted over Devimon and proceeded to use his DNA Slasher attack on the black demon. Devimon countered the blade strikes with his claws which were powerful enough to hold the blades black. Sparks flew as blades clashed with claws.

Cybermon ducked dodging Devimon's claw thrust. Building up strength within its legs, Cybermon suddenly jumped at Devimon tackling it. Cybermon later spun hitting Devimon square in the chest with its serpentine forked tail. The nimble strike caused Devimon to fall off the roof and land on the street.

The alien Digimon pursued its prey as it leapt intending to skewer it. Devimon met the attack head on with an uppercut causing both of them to recoil back.

Devimon was quick to recover and struck Cybermon hard with its long arm sending the victim flying into a building.

The jet black demon's left hand was charging a purple energy blast. It was intent on finishing its attacker off. With a slashing motion the energy blast was fired but soon collided with a stream of blue and yellow electricity. The collision was powerful enough that the shockwaves started ravaging the street. Streetlights turned on and off without any rhythm. Both attackers were at a stalemate until the blasts dissipated.

"Cybermon" the Virus Digimon could hear the voice of his partner speaking through his Digivice. This was only possible once a link had been made.

"Charge yourself up with electricity", Eric suggested to which the Digimon complied. Yellow lightning burst out from Cybermon's body and formed something akin to an armor of shifting energy. Devimon knew that the fight would get more difficult. The demon Digimon decided to destroy his opponent while it was powering up and fired another energy blast.

It was an easy feat to dodge a stray blast like that as Cybermon moved twice as fast as before. Like a lightning bolt the Virus Digimon zipped towards Devimon slashing him across the chest leaving severe burn marks and then kicking him.

"Curse you" Devimon was still recovering from the pain on his chest.

A flash of lighting fell on the black Digimon in the next instant sending out a tower of smoke which Cybermon proceeded to dive into.

Dazed by the smoke the Virus Digimon made a spinning cut but Devimon quickly grabbed onto its bladed arm. In the next moment Devimon thrust his other arm into Cybermon's abdomen.

A violent tearing motion followed with a shattering sound.

The lower half of Cybermon's body stood for a few seconds, wires that acted as a spinal cord cackling with electricity. With a twitch, it fell down. The upper half was dangling loosely as Devimon held onto the arm he had grabbed. The black demon let go of the severed body as it fell down lifelessly.

Devimon was slowly walking away from the remains of his opponent. More of his skin was burned off from that attack which made moving difficult. As he walked away, he heard a peculiar noise akin to the gushing of water. His left hand charged up with energy. He turned suddenly and fired the attack….

….which collided with a stream of electricity. Both the attacks faded away upon impact indicating how both fighters were exhausted.

Astralmon, who had reverted back after expending all his energy in the last attack, started backing away. Regeneration was a special ability of his but forcing his body to recover from a deadly wound like that in a matter of seconds took its toll. He sacrificed strength and integrity for faster recovery that left his body loosely bound and frail. A weak physical attack could easily destroy him at this state.

"Retreat for now" Eric commanded. Astralmon did as he was told. Progress was made with Devimon not deciding to follow him with injuries to tend to.

"I was careless" Eric replayed the battle in his mind realizing his mistakes. "I rushed too much. Damn it."

"We injured it quite a bit" Astralmon noted as he finally found a computer at a store which he could use to get back to Eric's house.

"Yeah, at least it won't be present tomorrow to make our lives worse. Get back home, alright." Eric got off his bed as he left to watch some television. There was nothing more he could do for tonight anyways.

Astralmon jumped into the computer screen and disappeared in an instant. He however failed to notice a strange bug like Digimon chewing through the power lines. A shade of dull yellow with black thunderbolt like markings on it; the bug had a voracious appetite. As it devoured the through the cables, electricity surged through its body as an ominous light heralded its transformation.

In its place was now a giant yellow fly with purple baleful wings. The wings started to flap as a buzzing sound accompanied it. With that it disappeared into the night sky.

-xxxx-

The black beast had sent shivers down her spine. That smile. It was just a glimpse and yet Julia knew that if she did not run death would be upon her soon enough. Grabbing her mother's hand tightly she made a run for it. "Save us, Virtuemon" she prayed whilst running.

There was a back door to the restaurant which they had used to escape towards the street. The sound of tables and chairs breaking were still audible. So was that strange yet hideous sound that Julia swore she would never forget. "Bodies being crushed" the thought instantly made her sick but she didn't stop.

"Julia!" that sound was the best thing she had heard up to now.

"Virtuemon" Julia looked relieved. Only for a moment.

From the corner of her eye she could see the black shadow on the other side of the glass. "Duck!" Julia told her mother a few milliseconds before the glass erupted into shards.

"Tail Spin" Virtuemon was quick on her feet, jumping and lashing out at the beast with her twin tails. The attack hit Wendigomon straight in the jaws causing him to back away.

"Julia!" Fear ripe in Katie's voice.

"I'm fine, mom" the girl said rubbing the blood from her cheek. In ensuring her mother's safety she had gotten a few cuts.

Wendigomon slammed his fist into the pavement but Virtuemon evaded and went straight for its legs. She launched her tails like a pair of whips at the beast's left leg causing Wendigomon to cry out in pain. Managing to get behind Wendigomon, Virtuemon proceed to wrap its tails around the beast's neck it pulled with unexpected strength causing the victim to fall flat on the street.

"Virtuemon, watch out!" Wendigomon grabbed onto the tails strangling it and pulled them apart. With one strong pull the black beast tossed the small Digimon into the street.

Julia was horrified. Virtuemon lay there still while the beast sported a toothed smile at her and her mother.

"Don't you dare lay a finger on my family!" Russell pelted Wendigomon with rocks.

"Russell!" Katie screamed knowing how suicidal that was. In a flash Wendigomon switched its target and grabbed Russell with its hand.

The scream was mortifying. The sound of bones beginning to crack slowly seeped into Julia's' ears. She was scared. She was scared of losing another loved one.

"Julia!" Katie screamed as the girl she called out to ran towards the monster.

"Hey, ugly!" Julia taunted throwing some rocks to further provoke Wendigomon.

It worked.

"Glittering Blitz!" a shining ball of energy exploded right on Wendigomon's chest causing it to drop Russell. "Whatever Julia holds precious, I'll protect it" Virtuemon slowly stood up.

"I already lost my brother." The beast turned its gaze towards the girl, readying its fist.

"Julia!" Both parents called out.

"I won't lose anyone else!"

 _Primary Digital Matrix Set_

 _Accessing Evolutionary Code_

 _Designation: Regalmon_

 _Code: ADLT1165_

 _Digital Evolution Process… INITIATE_

The familiar words were spoken as a light began to envelop Virtuemon.

"Diamond Force!" a voice called out from the light as a shield of bright white light appeared in front of Julia not only stopping Wendigomon's punch cold but repelling him away.

Julia looked towards the light that died down. In place of Virtuemon was a much taller and elegant form of Virtuemon. It had a golden fur coat on that reached the ground with its two tails wrapped around its neck. 6 jewels were floating behind her. Two small wings adorned the back of the coat. Its golden eyes had lilac streaks under them and the feathery ears grew taller. With a slow graceful walk Regalmon approached Wendigomon who towered over her. Regalmon pushed Julia back.

Julia could see it in those golden eyes. "I'll handle this."

Wendigomon slashed at Regalmon but the Digimon dodged it with ease. The beast opened its mouth letting loose a massive sound wave. Regalmon countered with her Diamond Force attack, where the 6 jewels behind her came together to form a white hexagonal shield that caused the sound wave to dissipate. With a gentle flick, Regalmon sent the shield slamming right into Wendigomon causing it to crash into a nearby car.

The black beast Digimon rose up from the rubble, seething with anger. Its red eyes were glowing. It looked frantically but couldn't find the enemy. It finally looked up.

On top of a building stood the Digimon it was looking for. Behind her was the moon. Wendigomon watched as Regalmon's hand slowly rose to point at it, the jewels beginning to shine brightly before disappearing.

Wendigomon suddenly noticed its body disintegrating from the light being emitted from the 6 jewels. The beast lashed out in vain but by all that was left was but a few strands of data. The dark figure disappeared completely amidst the light.

Regalmon jumped down and proceeded to walk towards Julia while both parents stood bewildered by what had transpired.

"Thanks" Julia hugged the Digimon that saved them. Regalmon gently stroked her partner's head.

Katie and Russell both slowly approached. Julia turned her head towards them.

"Mom, Dad, I know you aren't exactly keen on having Virtuemon around…." Julia tried to explain but was cut off by the sudden tears swelling in Katie's eyes.

"Thank you" Katie said to Regalmon in between sobs. "You protected my daughter."

Regalmon silently nodded.

-xxxx-

"Hang on, I'm opening the door" Eric shouted as he came down the stairs. He didn't need to open the door though. It was someone who wasn't welcome.

"You!" Eric had only disdain for the "guest".

"Son….." Prof. Dunbar tried to find something to say.

"What?" Eric barked. "So you remember you had a son?"

"Eric…."

"Don't give me that crap!" Eric cried, "You weren't even there by mom's side when she was dying. You even knew that from the beginning! What made you think that I'm supposed to welcome you here?"

Prof. Dunbar took a step back.

"You weren't there for me either! You just left me while you stuffed yourself in that lab of yours. Did you ever think of that?"

William Dunbar felt the resentment overwhelming him. "I understand…" and with that he left.

When the door finally slammed close Eric slumped to the floor.

"Damn it" he cursed as a single tear fell on the wooden floor.

 **-xxxx-**

 **Author's note: I hope none of you were offended by Eric's words. Deeply sorry if that is the case.**


	7. Fragile Glass

Chapter 7: Fragile Glass

Julia felt the gentle rays of the sun shining down on her face. She yawned lazily and rubbed her eyes. Mornings weren't usually this hard for her but yesterday's ordeal had taken its toll.

"Good morning, Julia!" Virtuemon announced cheerfully. Despite doing the heavy lifting yesterday the Digimon was still as enthusiastic as ever. Julia sighed. "If only I was as strong as her" Julia thought.

The girl got up, still dazed. Yesterday was just too much. She remembered the horrible noises she had heard during that night. Russell Verde was thankfully still alive thanks to her intervention. A close relative who was a doctor checked her father for any serious injuries.

"He'll be okay" the doctor had said, "It's best for him to rest as much as possible."

"What if I was too late?" Julia imagined the horrible consequences that would have led too.

"We saved him" Virtuemon noted, "that's all that matters."

That was true. The thought of losing another family member had given birth to a sense of madness within her that drove her to challenge the beast on her own. She now realized how easily the beast could have killed her.

She hugged Virtuemon. "Thank you, so much."

"It was all because of you" Virtuemon comforted the girl.

Julia didn't know how she was responsible for the sudden transformation that night but she didn't care now. Everyone was safe for now. She went to the washroom to wash the sleepiness away.

"Are you going outside today, too?" Virtuemon asked.

"Yeah" Julia replied, remembering that Hiran's game was today. She looked at the mirror that reflected her face. The cut hadn't healed yet. It was a minor thing at most compared to what had transpired but it was a scar on her beautiful face- a scar that was worth getting in order to protect a loved one. She gently touched the cut.

Julia bit her lip. It still hurt whenever she touched it. She had another one near her left shoulder but at least that one was easier to hide. The girl put a band aid on the cut, something she had forgotten to do before she proceeded to sleep like a rock.

"Got cut, clumsy me" Julia summarized her excuse in case someone asked her.

"Remember to take your Digivice this time too" Virtuemon nodded, "I have a bad feeling about today."

Julia hoped nothing like that would happen again.

"I know it's scary, but there are some things only a few people can do. Remember I'll always be by your side" Virtuemon stopped for a moment and started thinking. "Okay, not always. I doubt you'll take me to watch a football match."

"I can always count on you Virtuemon" Julia put emphasis on the 'always'. The girl looked out through her window. There was an ominous darkness looming outside.

"Looks like it's gonna rain" Julia observed. The observation made her nervous. She didn't know why. Dark clouds were always ominous.

The sun was slowly being consumed by the darkness. Julia recalled something from that.

"What's wrong, Julia?"

"Today is Noel's dad's death anniversary."

-xxxx-

"It's quite a surprise to see you in a place like this" Ada remarked. It was a day off, so she decided to visit a place she had longed to for quite a long time. It was Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, a place she had heard and seen in many brochures detailing London. When she heard that her job would take her to London she quickly read through many tour books detailing the city and first found the place that she was now at in the present. Admittedly, the woman was quite thrilled with art and was quite interested in seeing the wax personifications of famous people.

She didn't expect that Lysandre would be here too.

"Really?" Lysandre acted surprised by that comment. He was still wearing his shades along with a white tucked in shirt and black pants.

"Don't take it that way" Ada quickly apologized to her boss.

"No, don't worry. We're not at our workplace so you can treat me as your equal" Lysandre gave a smile.

Ada felt relieved. She wore a purple dress and had a black handbag. "I just thought that you weren't into art."

Lysandre laughed at that- a nervous laugh. "Is that so? This place interests me. Why don't we take a walk?"

And so began their tour around the museum. Lysandre gravitated towards figures like past kings and queens while Ada found herself figures like actors and musicians.

"What do you like about this place?" the Chinese scientist asked.

"Art is perhaps the closest thing to eternity" Lysandre began, "it preserves. I've always thought of human beings as ephemeral beings. We are here in this Earth for a limited period of time. Our greatest desire is to outlive death for a person dies twice. Once when he stops breathing and the second when his name his never spoken again."

Ada was listening attentively ignoring the rumbling of other visitors.

"These sculptures capture moments of perfection for otherwise imperfect beings. These sculptures are fragile, quite like us and yet many of them have outlasted their living counterparts."

"A photograph never grows old. You and I change, people change all through the months and years but a photograph always remains the same. How nice to look at a photograph of mother or father taken many years ago. You see them as you remember them. But as people live on, they change completely. That is why I think a photograph can be kind. Einstein once said those exact words"

Ada was left speechless. "You're amazing, Lysandre."

"Thank you" Lysandre stammered while saying that. He was not used to compliments.

"Why don't we make good on his words?" Ada asked confusing Lysandre. It was only when she took out her camera from her bag did he understand.

"Memories are important too and the best thing about them is making new memories" Ada proceeded to take pictures of the exhibits. "Let's take a picture together."

"It's alright. I'll pass" Lysandre was not always keen about his photo being taken. "I have to go. There's a friend of mine I have to meet. I hope I haven't ruined your day off."

"No, it's alright" Ada looked sad.

"We'll be seeing each other then" with that Lysandre left leaving Ada alone amongst the works of art. 

-xxxx-

"Hey!" Eric called out to Kevin who was overseeing the team's warm up routine. Kevin turned around and gave a slight hint of a smile. "Great, so you're here."

"Can you be a little bit happy at least" Eric was a bit bummed out. "I mean I have so many more things I could do instead of watching this game but I came because I truly cared for you."

"Get outta here, four eyes" came the swift reply, "you came because Hiran asked you to."

"Oh yeah, that's right" Eric replied to which Kevin sighed.

A strange silence followed. Eric decided to get to the point.

"You nervous?" Eric asked.

"Yeah" Kevin knew what he meant and it definitely wasn't about the game. "It's not gonna be easy."

"Considering we don't even have an idea of what's coming, yeah, it's not gonna be easy."

"You don't even know when it's gonna happen?" Kevin was hoping for a yes but he was sadly disappointed.

"You'll know by the general panic and a gigantic hole in the sky. Or several."

"You really are a scientist. You know bad stuff is gonna go down and yet you don't even know when it's gonna go down." Kevin was a bit annoyed.

"Cut me some slack" Eric replied to the comment. He heard a voice call out to him.

It was Hiran.

"Yo" Eric quickly turned around to face Hiran.

"Hey" Hiran too was dressed in his jersey-blood red dabbled with black stripes. "Oh and you must be…"

"Kevin Louis" Eric introduced Kevin, "he's a friend of mine."

"Nice to meet you" the Sri Lankan extended a hand.

"Same here" Kevin shook hands. He tried to eliminate any emotion from his voice.

Hiran could tell that this was going to be a tough match.

Eric's phone had started to ring prompting him to answer.

"Hello" the brown haired boy spoke into the phone. "Oh, ok got it" the call ended.

"It was Julia. She said she'll be here soon. She had something to do."

"Okay then, I'll be waiting" Hiran quickly left prompting Kevin to do the same.

When he was rid of the company of both of them Eric found himself gripping his phone tightly. "It's Noel isn't it?"

-xxxx-

The place was as dreary as always. The sky was as grey as the tombstones on which the names of the lost were engraved. Underneath the boy's feet was the ground from which their essence had returned to.

"Dad…" for Noel it was that time of the year again.

 _Here lies John Keith, a great man and an even greater father_. Those were the words inscribed on the stone.

Noel had only to close his eyes and the memories would flow to him.

 _Dad, you're the greatest_

 _Dad, look I did really good today at school_

 _Dad, I'm gonna be a doctor one day and save people_

 _Dad, just being by your side makes me happy_

"Why?" a rain drop forced his eyes open. Or was that his teardrop?

"When you smiled at me, you always made all my troubles go away" Noel was starting to choke up. "Every day was difficult at school with all the bullying but at least you were at home to cheer me up." The rain was getting heavier. "But now, every time I come back home…." Noel fell on his knees.

"You aren't there…"

Raindrops and tears alike streaked across the blonde boy's face.

"Why? Why did you have to leave? You meant so much to me, dad."

"You meant so much…." The rain soaked Noel's clothes. He thought back to the day when his mother had told him about his father's passing. He had already known beforehand by reading the letter but it only ascertained that one fact.

 _He's gone. He's never coming back and no amount of waiting will change that._

The rain seemed to have stopped. No, it was still raining. There was an umbrella over the boy's head.

"Noel…." Julia found herself close to tears seeing her friend like this. He was broken.

"Why? It's not fair!" Noel spoke in between sobs. He suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder.

"I know it's not fair…" Julia stooped down to talk to Noel, "but nothing can bring him back."

"I know" Noel's voice was so void of emotion. "I know, I know…" he kept saying it like a mantra. "I don't need to be reminded of that."

Julia could have told him to move on but she found herself unable. "Move on", the words would never be said for deep down she knew. Seeing her broken friend was like staring at a mirror. She too understood how broken she was. She could never say those two words because deep down she knew- she too couldn't move on.

Noel's head slowly came to rest near Julia's shoulder. He was still sobbing but he was tired. Julia slowly helped him up and got him near to a tree where he could lean on. She later went to pick up her umbrella but was met with someone.

"Don't worry" it was Kyrie, "I have an umbrella for him."

Julia had remembered that she still had to go to Hiran's game but was hesitant to leave the boy.

"It's alright. I promise" Kyrie smiled, "you can go if you want."

Julia had nothing against the fair black haired girl but was intrigued by her presence. "Are you here for any reason?" She couldn't help but ask.

"I was just passing by" Kyrie replied, "If you want to stay, it's alright too."

The girl could have stayed but what would she have done? She couldn't help him now when she could hardly help herself. She resigned and left muttering a "thank you" to the other girl.

Kyrie sat beside Noel. She held the umbrella like a knight holding a shield.

"Nice weather, huh?" Kyrie said to no one in particular.

The time then flowed silently except for the sound of the rain greeting the green earth.

-xxxx-

The rain had hardly deterred any of the players. Although the weather made sure that every move was harder to execute neither team let up. Hiran's team was giving it a 120% though, since Kevin's team had broken through their defense and got an early goal.

Eric found himself quite absorbed into the match. He was closely following everyone's movements and criticizing their actions in his mind. He was interrupted by the sudden beeping of his Digivice. He scanned around and saw it was safe to answer it since many had left due to the rain.

"What is it?" Eric spoke into the blue device.

"A champion Digimon is heading towards your current location." Astralmon replied casually.

"Can you intercept it?" the brown haired boy let his umbrella down for a moment.

"Yes, but I'm afraid that won't be needed" the reply piqued Eric's curiosity. "Someone is already chasing after it" Astralmon explained.

"Who is it?"

"A friend" Astralmon sounded like he gave a chuckle. "Don't worry. I'm on my way though. Electronics around the city are acting up. The portal will open soon. Oh and Shadow of Mordor has finished installing…"

"That's good" Eric replied before disconnecting and putting the device into his pocket. He returned to observing the game but at the same time his mind was counting the minutes, waiting for the enemy to approach.

Kevin had just received the ball and proceeded to run circles around the opposition trying to retrieve the ball from him. Minutes ago, the same thing happened as the tanned boy moved with a honed agility and dexterity that came naturally from practice and made his way towards the goalpost. Hiran was there to intercept him but with one swift kick, Kevin passed the ball to another player fooling Hiran completely as the next thing he saw after turning around was the ball colliding with the net.

"Sorry, I'm late" Julia sat beside Eric carrying her umbrella.

"You went to visit Noel?" Eric asked without lifting his eyes off the game.

"Yeah" Julia replied monotonously.

"How'd it go?"

"Not any different from before. He still can't move on."

"I thought as much" Eric sighed.

One player from Hiran's team tried to slide tackle Kevin but the act was in vain as Kevin avoided it deftly.

What he didn't expect was the presence of another player waiting for the opportune moment.

Hiran dashed in taking the ball away and quickly kicked it away. Kevin was shocked as he saw the tight formation of Hiran's team as each member made short passes avoiding all acts of interception by the opposition. Soon the score was tied as the ball avoided the goal keeper and went into the goalpost.

Hiran looked to face Kevin and smirked. "Don't underestimate us" he said.

"Not bad" Kevin smirked in return. He knew the minutes were ticking down and that it was now or never. In truth he was a bit tense. Such situations always made him so.

Julia was clapping but slowly stopped. "What's that noise….?" She could have sworn she heard a loud buzz.

Eric buckled himself.

"What on Earth?" Everyone stopped as the scream made itself heard. The sound of wood cracking sent shivers down everyone's spines as part of the stands broke down.

"A Digimon?" Hiran backed up a bit.

He saw the giant yellow fly monster crash into the field. Its purple wings began to emit the buzzing sound as it slowly lifted itself up from the ground. It swiftly flew towards a player, intending to skewer him.

"Get out of the way!" Hiran yelled as the boy being targeted quickly dodged. His shoulder was a bit grazed but other than that he was fine.

Flymon stopped and floated over the field.

Julia was paralyzed with fear. "Not this again. No, it just can't…."

"Everyone! Proceed in an orderly fashion outside!" Eric's surprisingly booming voice commanded whoever was left watching the game to leave. Kevin spotted him from the field and quickly took his cue.

"Get the heck outta here!" He yelled and everyone followed- everyone except one.

Flymon was suddenly hit by the ball. It turned and found its attacker.

"Over here, you ugly bug!" HIran was taunting the insect Digimon.

"The hell are you…?" Kevin had thought that Hiran had gone mad before that same madness overtook him. "No! Over here!" He too started taunting the bug.

It had no effect though as Flymon had its sights set on the Sri Lankan teen. It quickly flew towards Hiran but the boy dodged in time. He was getting up, preparing himself to evade another attack but soon found that he didn't have to.

With a large leap, a black and crimson figure landed in front of Hiran kicking up a cloud of dust. It was humanoid bull of close to Hiran's shoulder in height. It had two horns and a golden ring on its nose. It had spots of jet black fur on its body.

"Aurochmon?" Hiran was glad beyond words.

"Show us what you're made off" Kevin thought.

The anthropogenic bull slowly rose up and aimed a cold glare at the insect Digimon which looked quite unnerved. "You made me chase you all around this damn city. For that I'll have to beat the bytes outta ya!"

Flymon lunged at Aurochmon but the rookie Digimon just stood there.

A backhand was all that was needed. One swift movement, Aurochmon sent the enemy Digimon that was twice his size crashing into the ground a small distance away.

Eric was astonished by the strength the rookie Digimon held. He kept watching as the beast Digimon slowly walked towards the fallen Flymon. With one hand, Aurochmon proceeded to throw the insect Digimon half way across the field.

Julia was still processing what she had just seen. "Hiran's a Chosen Child..?" She felt a sudden heaviness in her bag where she kept her Digivice.

"Outta the way!" Aurochmon's warning was heard loud and clear as Kevin and Hiran got out of the way of a large projectile- most probably Flymon's stinger. The projectile had enough power to tear the goal post on the opposite side out of the ground.

Flymon flew up and fired another stinger at Aurochmon.

"Fierce Straight!" Aurochmon reared his hand back and in an instant unleashed a forward punch. The force of the punch caused the stinger to disintegrate mid way.

"Boost Spark!" Flymon was suddenly blindsided by a blast of electricity. Aurochmon let loose a smirk as he saw Astralmon arrive at the battlefield.

"Good to see you, my friend" the Virus Digimon greeted the beast Digimon.

"Stay out of my way" Aurochmon warned as he got his battle stance ready.

Astralmon chuckled before proceeding to use his Spiral Claw attack at Flymon. The insect Digimon blocked with its stinger before batting the Virus Digimon away.

What Flymon wasn't prepared for was the second assault. It suddenly felt something heavy on its back.

"Someone needs its face renovated" Aurochmon pummeled the yellow fly's face in as it moved erratically in a vain attempt to shake its attacker off. What was before a few wild jerks, turned into reckless flight as Flymon crashed into the stands and came back again as Aurochmon was holding on to the best of his ability.

It was a brief second that he saw the incoming ball of lightning and so Aurochmon barely jumped off his temporary mount before Astralmon's attack connected.

"Fissure Strike!" Aurochmon came down upon the stunned Flymon, fist ready. The strike caused both of them to crash into the ground leaving a small crater and a huge cloud of dust in its wake.

"Nice" Kevin praised the rookie Digimon for his strength. As the dust cloud was slowly dissipating, he could see the strands of data circling Aurochmon.

HIran, who was silently observing the battle, got up and slowly walked towards his partner.

"You did it" he said as they bumped fists.

"Was there any doubt?" Aurochmon smirked.

Eric approached them with Julia hesitantly following him. The brown haired boy proceeded to congratulate Hiran which only served to confuse him and Julia. It was only when Astralmon appeared by his side did both Hiran and Julia understand.

"You're a Chosen Child?" Both of them shouted together.

"Him too" Eric pointed to Kevin who seemed a bit amused by the situation. A bit.

"This is crazy" Julia was incredulous at the thought that two of her friends also shared her fate.

"I know right. I mean which Digimon would ever pick you, Jules" Hiran took the revelation a bit better though.

"Shut it" the girl gave a stern reply which only made Hiran giggle.

"Rowdy" Kevin was grumpy as usual.

"Now that we're together" Eric decided to use this opportunity to clear some things up, "I have some things to discuss. First of all, I'm sure you're both aware of what you have to do."

Both Julia and Hiran knew the responsibilities of a Chosen Child from their Digimons. Julia didn't want to admit it though.

"Any time now, more Digimon might appear. Both of you are coming with me in taking some of them down…" Eric noticed the fear on Julia's face. "I know it's tough Julia but you have to bear with me."

"Only we can do this. No one else" Kevin spoke up grabbing both their attentions. "You can stand around and ignore what's happening around you" Kevin thought to what Gina would say. _Probably the same thing._

"Then tell me, would you be able to live with the thought that if you did intervene you could have saved even one life? Every choice has a consequence. Make a choice on the basis that you can live with the after effects."

Hiran and Julia were both silent. Eric could only think that his choice was indeed correct.

"What are you yelling at me for? I was ready to fight" Hiran looked at Aurochmon who smiled in return.

Kevin turned his eyes towards Julia.

"Scary eyes" she thought. Cold, black eyes that contrasted so much with Noel's warm blue eyes. She proceeded to take out her Digivice.

"I don't have much of a choice at the end" the girl sighed as she told her partner Digimon to meet up with the group.

"Now we just-" Eric was cut off by a quake. It wasn't of the same intensity as the one before but it could be felt. He heard large rumbling noises.

"What was that?" Julia could see the smoke rising but even more apparent was a green rift with data swirling around it in the sky.

"Trouble" Kevin muttered.


	8. Full Scale

Chapter 8: Full Scale

Tom found himself dazed by the sudden turn of events. "Bro, where are you?" He was just taking his little brother out for a walk. He didn't know that mid way something huge would fall from the sky. He turned to look at what the object was until he saw what was in the sky.

 _I want to get out of here_

 _I've had enough_

 _Damn it, where's the exit?_

Tom thought back to that night. To the texts that appeared on the computer screen. To the image all the scientists saw.

"I must be dreaming" Tom got up and started to frantically search for his kid brother. "Jake!" He cried out and finally the 13 year old boy made himself appear.

"Big brother-" Jake was cut short as Tom held his hand and started running.

"Where are we going?" Jake whined.

"Far from here." It wasn't a dream. Tom picked up his pace. He wasn't bothered by the rumbling noises or the scream but something drove him to look back.

A giant green praying mantis was slicing apart the buildings with ease due to the metallic scythes on its hands. It had green armor like skin and red markings where its eyes should have been. It had two large wings on its back.

"What's that?" Steve spoke with terror in his voice but Tom didn't answer.

He kept on running.

-xxxx-

"Snimon, Champion level, Insect Digimon. Special Attack: Twin Sickles" Wires were jutting out from Astralmon's body while it stood atop a building to get a good view. It proceeded to relay the information back to Eric via Digivice.

"Just one?" Eric enquired.

"For now…" Astralmon answered, "Aurochmon is on his way towards where Snimon is. Virtuemon will soon meet up with Aurochmon. The portal is still open, so expect reinforcements."

"What about Viperdramon?" Kevin asked Eric who relayed the question to Astralmon.

"Viperdramon should be here in a few minutes."

"What's the state of that area?"

"Most humans have fled but there is heavy collateral damage. I also detect military vehicles."

"That complicates things" Eric knew how serious the situation was now considering the military has intervened.

"How?" Kevin grunted.

"We can't get close enough to our partners to make them Digivolve. They pretty much should have the whole place locked down to prevent any civilians from getting hurt. Then there's also the news report-"

"Screw that!" Hiran yelled, "We have to be by their sides, don't we?"

"What would you do? You haven't even unlocked your Digimon's Champion form?" Eric gave a blunt reply.

HIran was quiet, rage slowly building up inside. "Don't look down on me!" He snapped indignantly, "I am not worthless. I'll show you. I'll Digivolve Aurochmon. Just you watch!" He ran off after that.

Julia tried to call out to him but it was in vain.

"Great" Kevin said to no one in particular.

-xxxx-

News helicopters were slowly hovering around the green insect Digimon trying to do their jobs while avoiding getting destroyed. The news reporter beckoned the pilot to fly closer despite his protests. "We need better shots" the woman barked and finally the pilot relented slowly bringing the helicopter closer to the monster.

"We're here in downtown London where a huge beastly insect monster has appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Its rampage has prompted the intervention of the military who are steadily preparing to fire upon the monster."

Down below soldiers were waiting with bated breath, rifles in hand. Tanks were positioned, ready to blast the monster to smithereens. Another such news reporter was questioning the person in charge of the attack, a tall and gruff, old man with a hard look in his eyes.

"What do you intend to do against such an unprecedented threat?" the news reporter asked handing the microphone to the commander.

"I assure you, it is all under control" the man replied without so much as looking at the one who asked the question, "I request all civilians to leave this area. That includes the likes of you."

The woman sported a venomous look at him before leaving. While leaving she felt her ears come under attack. She saw two fighter planes zooming in to their target.

"Maverick: the target is in range. Proceeding to fire. Over" one of the pilots of the fighter plane spoke to his partner.

"Iceman; fire."

Upon the speaking of that cold command the whistling sounds of the missiles permeated the air as the weapons flew till they collided with Snimon. A cloud of red explosions rocked Snimon's body before a pillar of smoke enveloped it. The two planes both split as they each flew past opposite sides of the smoke pillar.

"That was eas-" The pilot's moment of joy was cut short when in a swift movement of a scythe, the plane's wing was cut off. Cries of "mayday" were heard before they were clouded by the deafening sound of an explosion.

"Twin Sickle" Snimon muttered as it made a vertical cut with one of its scythes. As the other plane was maneuvering it was struck by the attack being sliced in half while a pool of blood erupted from the cockpit.

"Commander!" One of the soldiers called out frantically.

"Hold your positions…."

Snimon turned around and slowly approached them.

"…..And fire!" the commander barked out as a rain of shells were unloaded onto the gigantic insect.

"Have the tanks fire, NOW!" Upon that command came the deafening sound of the tank cannon going off. Snimon was now enveloped in smoke.

"Cease fire!" And everyone did.

"We roasted that bug!" One of the soldiers shouted.

To prove him wrong, Snimon came out of the smoke with a few scratches on its tough, green armour. It proceeded to spread its wings.

"It's fleeing…" One soldier suggested.

"No.." The commander felt a fear unlike any other, "Everyone, move!" He didn't see the news reporter anywhere.

The wings started to flutter as glass shattered and concrete started to fall apart. Slabs of concrete fell on both soldiers and machine alike crushing them.

The commander saw his men fall like ants. Whatever cruel entity had set this beast upon him would not let his final moments be merciful. He was the last one standing and had seen his comrades fall from being crushed and pierced by falling debris and glass.

It was only a moment. The insect had only to lightly step on him for the life to fade from his frail body.

"Damn you!" Aurochmon had just barely made it to the scene as he saw the remains of Snimon's opposition. Virtuemon, who was beside him, could only steel her nerves as she prepared to fight the Champion Digimon.

"Eat this" Aurochmon proceeded to lift up an abandoned car and throw it at Snimon. The car exploded on contact momentarily stunning Snimon.

"Glittering Blitz!" Lilac explosions appeared all around Snimon's feet as the attack connected.

"Split!" Aurochmon yelled as the two went separate ways as Snimon's twin sickles came down on the street. Both rookie Digimons proceeded to jump on to Snimon's arms as they then ran them up towards the insect Digimon's head. Virtuemon twirled around as its Glittering Blitz attack connected.

"Fissure Strike!" Aurochmon came down as his fist collided with Snimon's head, causing a crack to appear. He smiled seeing as he reared his other fist back for another attack. The second punch connected causing Snimon to madly shake him off. While Virtuemon had gotten off, Aurochmon had it much harder as Snimon shook him off. He felt helpless as he was falling down until he crashed into the cold hard pavement.

"That's gonna hurt in the morning" the bull Digimon grunted as he tried to stand up but was met with Snimon's sickle instead which hurled him into a building.

"That all ya got?" Aurochmon found a certain thrill from taunting his enemies even if it wasn't good for his own health. Snimon let loose its Twin Sickle attack. As the first energy wave inched closer and closer Aurochmon held his ground. The timing was crucial after all. The bull Digimon pulled back his fist and then let loose as his hand collided with the energy wave seemingly holding it back.

Aurochmon could feel the intense burning as the attack dug through his hand. With a flick he shoved the wave away as it proceeded to disintegrate a nearby building.

It wasn't over yet though. The rookie Digimon quickly put his guard up as he stood up against the full brunt of the second wave. Aurochmon grunted as the pain was surging through his body. When the attack finally dissipated he sat down to catch his breath. Broken data was swirling across his chest and arms as the flesh had disintegrated around those areas.

He quickly picked his broken self up as he dragged his feet towards where Snimon was. The insect Digimon was annoyed as it launched another attack.

"Not done-" Aurochmon was about to guard but to his surprise someone else took the attack for him.

"Virtuemon!" The bull Digimon shouted in horror as he saw his comrade slowly slumped down to the ground. Aurochmon however couldn't bother with Virtuemon for now as a sickle came down on him.

He thankfully grabbed the incoming scythe with both of his hands before it could cut him apart. However, he could not say how long he could hold it as he saw the data around his hands break apart. From the corner of his eye, he could see the other sickle being reared. The target was Virtuemon who was too slow in recovering herself.

"NO!" Aurochmon screamed. He couldn't let a comrade fall. He wouldn't be able to live with that. As he kept his own death at bay his frightened face being reflected by the blade that would soon skewer the other rookie.

The blade came down.

Aurochmon had closed his eyes in that instant and when he opened them he saw the scythe stuck into the pavement. Virtuemon wasn't there.

"Heh, don't worry" he saw Virtuemon's body being cradled by a human. Not just any human.

"It's gonna be alright" Aurochmon saw the reassuring smile on his face. "Hiran is here after all."

"It's gonna be alright" the rookie Digimon spoke those words which had an empowering effect. He stopped the data flowing out of his hands. He let loose a puff of air from his nostrils and with one sharp twist severed Snimon's blade in half.

Snimon was surprised by the sudden showing of strength as the act imbalanced it and the insect fell down.

"Alright!" Hiran was giddy seeing his partner just one up a gigantic Digimon like that. "C'mon partner, let's show em what we're made off" the boy still held the barely conscious Virtuemon tightly.

Aurochmon smiled, "I forgot that I'm not alone anymore. You have my back, Hiran?"

"Is that even a question?" Hiran got his Digivice out from his pant pocket.

 _Primary Digital Matrix Set_

"Woah, is that the Digivolution thingie?" Hiran still sported a grin.

 _Accessing Evolutionary Code_

Snimon rose up from the cloud of dust as it reared its two scythes.

 _Designation: Murcielmon_

"Aww hell yeah, baby!" Aurochmon was grinning too, "Let's give this bug Hell!"

 _Code: ADLT2597_

With one swift motion, the two energy blades raced towards its target.

 _Digital Evolution Process… INITIATE_

Aurochmon expanded as his whole body became white. He stretched out his hands and easily caught the two energy blades like they were Frisbees. Colour came back to his body- a darker crimson accented by black and gold. A golden arm guard and shoulder guard materialized on his right arm. The two horns that were present before now grew in size and a third horn sprouted near his nose. A large mane of black hair sported on his back and his three tails snapped in anger. He now had two protruding fangs. With ease, he crushed the two energy blades he was holding back.

"You messed with the wrong bull" with a puff of air, Murcielmon aimed its three horns at Snimon. With an announcement of "Trihorn Stinger" he charged, tackling the giant insect. Murcielmon was pushing Snimon back further as the giant insect, who had reigned supreme before, could do nothing to stop the immense strength that hurled himself on to it.

The two finally crashed into a large building. The new Champion hardly relented as he launched a haymaker followed by an uppercut stunning Snimon. Snimon tried to fight back with a horizontal cut but its scythe clashed with Murcielmon's horn. Murcielmon heaved as the horn broke the sickle in half sending it crashing into a building. The Champion returned to its one sided beatdown before lifting up Snimon's body over his head and throwing it into the ground effortlessly.

"Murcielmon!" The Digimon turned to look at his partner and saw him pointing at the sky. "Look out!"

From the rift came a gigantic blue beetle Digimon with a black horned helmet. It surprised Murcielmon as it collided with him causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground with a large thud.

"Kabuterimon, Champion level, Insect Digimon, Special Attack: Electro Shocker" Hiran's Digivice lit up again.

Kabuterimon let loose an electric blast that connected with the fallen Murcielmon causing him to scream in pain. Hiran could only look on helplessly. Snimon on the other hand had enough as it was preparing to fly away.

"Hiran!" The boy turned and saw Julia and Eric followed by Astralmon running towards him. "Help him" Hiran pleaded.

Eric noticed Snimon attempting to flee the area and got his Digivice out. "Kevin!" He yelled into the device.

Snimon lifted himself off the ground as he was about to fly away to another area.

"Got it" came the reply from the Digivice, "Saladramon!" A roar was overheard.

As the green bug hovered, it didn't see the massive purple fireball heading towards it. Upon connection, it was reduced to minute data particles.

"Julia" Eric turned to look at the girl who had taken Virtuemon from Hiran. She nodded.

 _Digital Evolution Process… INITIATE_

Astralmon Digivolve to…. Cybermon!

Virtuemon Digivolve to…. Regalmon!

The two Champions stood side by side as they prepared for battle. Cybermon let loose a stream of electricity which struck Kabuterimon while it wasn't looking. Regalmon pointed her paw at the insect as the light from her jewels struck Kabuterimon head on. This gave Murcielmon enough time to recover as he launched a punch at Kabuterimon knocking it back.

Cybermon leapt onto the beetle's helmet. An arched blade formed started to form on his hand as he slashed Kabuterimon's horn in half. The beetle rammed its head onto a building hoping to crush the Virus Digimon but it was futile as Cybermon got down.

Kabuterimon promptly recovered as it fired another blast of electricity. Regalmon blocked with her Diamond Force attack.

While handling the two Champions Kabuterimon had completely forgotten about the third Champion that soon tackled it hard from behind knocking it into the ground.

"Finish it off" Eric called out to Hiran.

Murcielmon lifted his armored hand over his head preparing for a vertical slash as the arm cackled with energy.

"Violence…" Kabuterimon had got up only to see its destroyer looming over it.

"….Wave!" The hand came down in a vertical slash releasing an energy wave that tore the insect Digimon in half. With that it slowly crumbled into minute data particles.

With the battle seemingly over all three Digimons reverted to their rookie forms.

"That was awesome!" Hiran ran over and hugged Aurochmon.

"I know, I know. What can I say? It's like my data consists of raw awesomeness" Aurochmon decided to revel in the joy for now. He had overcome his limits and Digivolved and went toe to toe with two other Champions.

"Yeah. I mean yours must be coolest Digivolution ever! Did you see that? You were so badass! You were destined to be my partner! Let's bask in the glory of our awesomeness!" Hiran was a little too excited.

Astralmon and Virtuemon looked at their partners in confusion.

"Should we remind him how we saved him and that our partners can Digivolve too?" Julia asked Eric in her deadpan manner.

"Let's not break his fragile grip on reality. For now. I'll troll him to Hell next time" Eric remained completely calm as he made that remark.

"Revenge is a really bad thing. Video it for me" the girl twirled her hair as she said that.

"Will do. Now let's get out of here." Eric looked at Hiran and his partner who was drunk on victory. "I can't deny it though" he thought, "they're bloody strong. Both of them." The brown haired teen looked up at the sky. He didn't know when, but it had stopped raining.

-xxxx-

"I'm home" Kevin came home and was greeted by his sister. He put a bag containing food down on the table.

"Had an adventure?" Gina sounded almost envious as Viperdramon slowly sneaked in.

"Nah" Kevin shook his head, "got pushed to the sidelines. Here have some" the boy took out a Popsicle from the plastic bag and handed it to his sister. He took another one out and offered it to his partner.

"Is this some sort of joke? I breathe fire for a living. I'm a dragon. Do I need to roar?" Viperdramon was annoyed to say the least.

"Fine" Kevin sighed, "just wanted you to cool down." The dragon's glare was enough of a signal for Kevin to stop talking.

"Don't worry. I'll make something for you" Gina left for the kitchen. Kevin sat down and began to eat the Popsicle that his partner refused.

"So how'd it go?" Viperdramon turned towards Kevin whose question had piqued his curiosity.

"The digivolution? I mean do you have control over it now?"

Viperdramon looked down at the ground. "I'm getting used to it, I guess."

Kevin crouched down until his eyes met with Viperdramon's. "I'll be by your side. I'll make sure you don't lose it."

It had sounded like another valueless claim that humans were used to making but Viperdramon weighed the magnitude of those words.

"I'm not saying that as encouragement. I'm telling you what I've decided."

Viperdramon, from spending his time here, had known that Kevin did not back down on his claims. Once Kevin had decided on something, he wouldn't relent until he had accomplished his goal. Kevin was indeed asserting himself as the leader and as such, despite the power the dragon held, Viperdramon could only submit and put his faith on his partner.

"I'm counting on you then" Viperdramon's eyes had a fierce look. "I'm counting on you to not go astray."

"He won't" Gina had overheard the conversation, "he might have severe attitude issues and needs to act like a punk for attention…." Kevin smiled, "… but he's my brother and I love my brother either way."

"In short" Kevin began, "I have a really radical sister."

The two laughed as Viperdramon looked on. He had realized now how different the act of living was to both of them. The dragon had so far mistaken living only for surviving but he now saw that it wasn't the case. He looked at his claws and recalled the foes it had slain for the short time it was in the Digital World. His claws before were pure black but now they were slowly fading. That was not bad though. He liked the new look.

"If it means protecting both of you" Viperdramon began, "then I will strike down anyone with these claws. I shall put my life in danger, if it ensures your safety." Viperdramon had found a new resolve.

"Let's hope it doesn't have to come to that" Gina mouthed her concern to which Kevin nodded.

-xxxx-

Lysandre stared at the computer screen which showed the city in ruins from the recent battle. He shifted through the images examining the extent of damage. He hardly showed any emotion as he scrolled through the shots.

"Yes, come in" the young man heard someone knocking on the door. "You're still here?" It was Prof Dunbar.

"It seems that you don't like my presence" the professor remarked.

"Sorry, if it sounded like that. I don't mind you being here. It's comforting" Lysandre gave a weak smile and adjusted his shades. "You work too hard for your own good, you know."

"I don't know about that" the man thought deeply, "I've always found work to be a good distraction."

"Everyone has their own way to escape reality-to not face tomorrow. What about your son?"

The man grew silent at that.

"You're working to distract yourself from that, aren't you?"

"Yes" Prof Dunbar found it hard to admit, "It was the same when Maria was dying. I knew there wasn't any way to save her and so I distanced myself to make her passing easier but she didn't stop loving me even then."

"I know it's not my place to say something like this but you have to reconcile with your son. Otherwise you'll regret it at the end."

The professor considered Lysandres' words. It was true but how would he go about doing it? Eric wouldn't listen now and he was never good at reaching out to someone.

"It's not as hard as you think. Eric is a bright lad. He'll understand" Lysandre pressed a few keys and a screen displaying the profiles of Eric, Kevin, Julia and Hiran appeared.

"They all are in their own unique ways" Lysandre commented.

"Do you think it's fair?" Henry asked.

"It never is" Lysandre replied, voice void of emotion.

"The road ahead isn't easy for them. "

"Are you feeling guilty?" Lysandre asked.

"They don't deserve this" Henry scowled at his lab partner. They both held equal positions in this project.

"That's why after this ordeal, all the wrongs shall be righted. If they're dead set on going to the Digital World..." Lysandre stood up.

"I see. I hope that's the case" the man took his leave.

"I truly hope that is the case" Prof Dunbar thought, "for everyone's sake."


	9. Exposition

Chapter 9: Exposition

"That was a good workout" Hiran slumped down upon his bed. He was too tired to change his clothes even though they were still soaked from the rain that tested him during his match. Aurochmon dragged his feet into the room.

The bull Digimon grunted. "My whole body's aching."

"You did good out there" Hiran smiled, proud of his partner.

Aurochmon didn't share that same feeling though. He had nearly seen Virtuemon on the verge of deletion. His mind drifted back to that day when they were tasked by Yggdrasil to cross into the human world. He was assigned as the leader of their group and found it upon himself to make sure they all made it out alive. Aurochmon protected them at every turn and often threw himself head first into danger just for the sake of his comrades. He cherished each of them and when they had found themselves on the other side he had realized how much he had come to care for them. In return, they all looked up to him in their own ways.

But he couldn't rest yet then. He sent himself scouting ahead to warn of any dangers that their new unknown environment could have posed. He was there for every one of them until the moment of parting came. He tried to hide his sadness during that moment. He was afraid of the perilous journey each of them had to face in search of their partner. He was afraid that his absence would lead to something bad happening to them.

"Earth to Aurochmon" Hiran was waving his hand near Aurochmon's face.

"Thank you" the bull spoke softly and his stern and tough demeanor came down, "for saving Virtuemon."

"No sweat" Hiran gave a "thumbs up" to reinforce his point.

"I'm sure it wasn't" Aurochmon smirked in return.

Hiran saw the cell phone he had put on the table light up. He went to check up on it and found that Eric had sent a message. The only thing the message contained was a hyperlink which the boy promptly followed.

The screen that appeared asked for a name. Hiran didn't want to think up some username and so decided to go with "Hiran".

Apparently the hyperlink took him to a chatroom. He saw three other names besides his. Names he knew.

"Well everyone's here" Eric posted. His name was coloured dark blue.

"Just to get things clear, I made this chatroom so that we can all discuss anything and everything about our roles as the Chosen Children and the Digimon" Eric posted again.

"Why need a chatroom for that?" Julia asked. Her name was written out in lilac letters.

"Snimon's rampage has made the headlines" Eric replied in an instant as if he was expecting that question. "People aren't really happy with the idea of monsters invading our world. I'd like to avoid making the public even more agitated by mentioning that we're partnered to those same monsters. This room also serves another purpose. It's a temporary base for our operations" Eric further added.

Hiran thought it sounded pretty cool. "So you mind explaining everything now?" Kevin, coloured bronze, asked.

There was a pause before Eric posted. "Pay attention." Everyone braced themselves accordingly.

"Our mission, as the Chosen Children is to stop the two worlds from merging. To do that we have to assemble our team of seven and go to the Digital World and stop whatever's causing this phenomenon."

The first question made itself appear. It was Kevin. "Merging?"

"The Digital World is slowly manifesting itself in our world. The two worlds exist in different planes but something's causing the Digital World to interfere with our plane."

"Is is related to those earthquakes?" Julia asked.

"Yes" came the reply followed by more information. "As the Digital World comes closer to manifesting itself the dimensional barriers will slowly degrade causing more Digimon to materialize themselves in the real world. Dimensional quakes will increase as the Digital World starts to materialize itself upon this world. The final one that will occur will wipe out about 70% of the Earth's population."

The last sentence had stunned everyone to silence. Eric seemed to wait from his end for the responses.

"70%?" Kevin could only repeat.

"The rest would be destroyed by the numerous Digimons pouring into our world."

"Can't we fight them?" Hiran tried to cope with the knowledge he had just gained.

"Champion isn't the final stage in a Digimon's evolutionary line" Eric replied confusing everyone and further building the feelings of dread in everyone's heart. "Above that is Ultimate and further above is Mega. Our Digimons have only unlocked their Champion forms. The barrier is preventing strong Digimon from appearing. As it slowly breaks down, Ultimate Digimon will jump through. If a champion like Snimon could destroy London all alone, Ultimates like Metalgreymon can destroy countries easily. One mega gets through, its game over."

No reply from anyone. Hiran waited for anyone to say anything.

"This can't be. It's really that bad" Hiran suddenly realized how important their mission was. He suddenly didn't want to be a Chosen Child anymore. He was scared-not of the unknown dangers but of failing. For all he knew the whole team might fail because he couldn't keep up, because he couldn't do his part. His hands shook violently.

"Calm down" Aurochmon said but his words had no effect on scared boy.

"What if I mess up? I'm scar-" Hiran was cut off by Aurochmon shoving him into the ground.

The boy moaned in pain. "What was that for?"

"If I knew you would be such a coward when I met you years ago, I wouldn't have made you my partner" the Digimon bluntly stated. "The battle hasn't started yet and you're worried about losing? If knowing is half the battle, then knowing that you're gonna win is the other half!"

Hiran was still afraid. He always was afraid of failing, of dragging down others. It was a deep rooted fear from his childhood. When others called him "useless" it hurt him more than anyone could imagine. He didn't want to be useless. He wanted to be anything but that.

"Remember when we first met?" Aurochmon spouted those words slowly so Hiran could properly follow. "Remember what I asked you?"

The boy tried to recall that event. It was night time when he first met his soon to be partner. Aurochmon was dragging himself, tired from repelling Digimon attacks. By a chance encounter he had met him as the boy bombarded the Digimon with questions. Aurochmon then asked him….

"….If I were to attack you, what would you do?" Aurochmon asked right now to the scared Hiran.

Hiran's reply was a simple one which he proceeded to give as he cracked a smirk. "I'd fight you."

Aurochmon reared its fist. As it let it loose it collided softly with Hiran's fist as the both of them smiled. The bull Digimon opened his fist grabbing Hiran's arm and pulling him up.

"Thanks" Hiran muttered.

"Responsibility" Aurochmon stated which confused the boy. "Words cannot be unsaid. If you make a promise it is your responsibility to fulfill it. Do you know what we have for people that keep their words? Respect. When you are fighting with your comrades, their struggle becomes your struggle. The light in their eyes becomes your strength. You're not fighting for yourself. You're not fighting just for the fate of both worlds. You're fighting for the sake of your friends too. You have a responsibility towards them. Remember that."

Hiran processed what Aurochmon had just told him. He breathed deeply. He wasn't used to such lectures. "First time for everything, I guess." He proceeded to pick up his phone and get back to the chat.

"Responsibility?" Hiran didn't seem to know the word up until now. He hated being called useless because that was the truth. He was weak and he didn't want to be reminded of that by other people. He couldn't face the truth.

Kevin had replied during the intervention, "So we have to get the rest of the members in gear."

"Easier said than done" Eric replied, "one of the Digimons hasn't found a suitable partner yet."

"What about the other two?" Julia asked.

"One of them has already left for the Digital World. That's why he have to get there and look for that one before we can tackle the enemy."

"And the last one?" Julia asked again.

"The last one is Noel."

Hiran was shocked by this. Although finding out that two of his friends were Chosen Children like him finding out that Noel was one too took the cake.

"If you know him, then we have to hurry and get him to join the team" Kevin suggested devoid of the complexity of the situation.

"That's the problem. I doubt Noel's keen about this. Convincing him might be difficult."

"What the heck do you mean?" Kevin was obviously angry.

"Forget it for now" Eric replied. "We have more important matters. Until we're ready to go into the Digital World, we have to deal with any Digimon that crosses over to this side. Not only that we have to minimize the damage to the city. Have your Digivices nearby at all times. Me and Astralmon will be on the lookout and will brief as you as required. We can't afford to act disorganized. Our approaches have to be planned out or we risk the public's wrath."

"Is it that bad?" Julia asked.

"Watch the news when you have time" Eric promptly replied. Hiran also wanted to see the extent to which they had enraged the public.

"Anything else?" Eric asked.

Kevin posed a question, "Once we go into the Digital World, what about our world? Won't Digimons just start rampaging unhindered? Also how do we even get into the Digital World?"

"Upon entering the Digital World another barrier will be set up as a defensive measure. Once we go in, we can't get out until we've done our job, remember that. As for getting in, that won't be a problem since a gate to the Digital World already exists. The exact same one the missing Chosen Child used."

"A portal's been here all this time?" Kevin asked.

"Call it an emergency gateway. This gate can only be manipulated by us with our Digivices. While one can cross dimensions to go from one world to another, this is a much easier and safer route."

Hiran had a hard time following. He noticed that Julia had left.

"There's no turning back now" Eric said to which Kevin didn't say anything about. Hiran steeled himself. He had undertaken an important responsibility.

"If there's nothing more, I'll leave." Eric left and Kevin soon followed suit.

Hiran turned his mobile phone off and sighed. Despite them being his friends, it didn't feel like it. Eric and Julia both fell unapproachable now after knowing that they were Chosen Children. "This is gonna be difficult" the boy thought before deciding to take a break and watch television. Aurochmon decided to follow. He had nothing better to do now.

The young man sat down upon the sofa and reached for the remote. He struggled, but finally got a hold of the TV remote and turned the electronic device on. His uncle probably wasn't home. He was the only family he had since his mother and father were both in his homeland. Although his uncle was related to him, Hiran wouldn't really consider him family since neither of them cared for each other.

The boy was shifting through the channels at a brisk pace until something prompted him to stop.

 _People aren't really happy with the idea of monsters invading our world_

It was the news channel.

"I was just out shopping with some friends" a hysteric girl was the next one to voice her opinion, "and the next thing I know that giant monster just crushed them to death!"

Hiran bit his lips. He wanted to yell something back at that girl.

"They should all die!" an irate man appeared on the screen, bandaged heavily, shouting those words.

"The hell? We saved you guys" Hiran was now directing his anger at the news report.

"What on earth did we do to deserve this?" A woman, her eyes bloodshot from crying, was yelling from the other side of the TV. "Those monsters killed my husband and only daughter!"

"It's not like we had a choice" Hiran was now yelling.

"Stop it" Aurochmon hung his head low. "Turn it off, if you're so annoyed."

"It's not your faul-"

"I don't care", came the cold reply. "I don't give a damn what they think. If they hate me, let them. You don't need to worry about me." The channel was soon changed.

Hiran took out his phone and searched through his contacts until he found the name he was looking for.

The phone rang but there was no answer.

"Julia…" Hiran was evidently worried.

-xxxx-

Julia found herself staring at the dimming lights situated on the ceiling. Her mind was restless with thoughts and her heart heavy with emotions.

The reason she decided to fight was to save the city and yet it wasn't that simple. Nothing ever was.

She had seen the looks of hatred and disdain on the citizens as they muttered curses at the Digimons regardless of whether they were trying to save them or not. That wasn't the only reason she felt this way. The revelation had hit her harder than she realized at first. She had agreed to Eric's notion of fighting Snimon only because she thought the fighting would only extend to defeating Snimon. She did not even think for once that she would soon travel to another world in pursuit of something so powerful that it could cause two worlds to collide.

Years ago both Julia and her brother had encountered Virtuemon who was hiding near their house. Peter easily welcomed her into their household but Julia was a bit hesitant but Virtuemon's endearing personality had soon grown on her. Peter decided to become Virtuemon's partner.

Then he passed away and Virtuemon turned to Julia to be her partner. She didn't want Virtuemon to leave and so Julia became her partner. She didn't think it would come to this even though the Digimon had warned them.

"Do you think I'm selfish?" Julia suddenly spoke up while lying down in her bed.

Virtuemon hung her head down as her beady black eyes were fixed upon the floor.

"Thought so" Julia closed her eyes.

"It's not being selfish exactly" Virtuemon spoke up. "You sometimes fail to see what's in front of you."

"Peter told me the same thing once. He said that I take things for granted too." Julia thought of what was in front of her. She saw the hatred on the faces of the people on the news, she perilous shadows but most of all she saw her brother, his back turned towards her. Was she once more failing to see things?

"I wish you were here" Julia yearned for her lost brother. She hadn't accepted it. She was lost in her own loss.

"Julia?" The girl turned towards her Digimon.

"Am I a burden to you?" Virtuemon asked which prompted Julia to get up from her bed.

"No!" She cried, "Why on Earth would you think that?"

"It's just that…." the Digital creature looked down as it talked, "you're suffering because of me. I just think that you regret ever meeting me."

Julia was silent. Virtuemon saw anger in her eyes.

"Never say that" Julia said as stern as possible, "I never regret ever meeting you. If I am suffering, it's because of me. Not you."

Virtuemon was relieved at that.

"I'm sorry if it seem liked that" Julia apologized.

"No it's alright" Virtuemon pepped up, "If I can help you in anyway-"

"Thanks" Julia looked away, "but don't stress yourself. You've had it tough. I can handle this."

Virtuemon was saddened. She could see it in the human's eyes- the uncertainty of that statement.

-xxxx-

"So if I write it like this…." Noel wrote something in his notebook but quickly cut it realizing that it was a wrong approach towards solving this particular math's problem. There was a discrepancy between his hand and mind. While his hands were busy in solving sums his mind was drifting.

"You're a lot like me." He was thinking about what Kyrie told him that day.

He tried to solve the sum again but failed. His mind wasn't into it.

"How so?" Noel asked.

"We're both lost. We can't seem to find our happiness." The reply still lingered in his mind.

Noel, who was sitting on his bed, closed his eyes. "Happiness, huh?" Upon opening his eyes he saw Bokhramon looking at him. The boy smiled as he put the notebook away and lifted him up and let him sit on his lap. Noel proceeded to stroke the fur on Bokhramon's back.

"A little to the left" Bokhramon was enjoying this. Noel smiled and complied with the request.

"I've been drifting through life as long for as I can remember" Kyrie said that day. "Every tomorrow felt like another spinning of that same wheel. Another day for me to drift through."

"Tomorrow?" Noel had dreaded that as long as he could remember. He only wanted to remember the good things that happened in his life and replay those as many times he could. Every tomorrow was another hopeless struggle. The endless bullying, the lack of friends the constant pressure crushing his tiny shoulders; there were many reasons he dreaded tomorrow. If he could, he would happily live in the past.

For that girl however, past, present and future meant nothing.

"Every day is the same shade of grey. It's sad. I can't even write proper music anymore."

Noel remembered a remark that his English teacher had made about one of his compositions. "Very good, but try to tone down the melancholy a bit."

"I guess we see the same shades of grey" Noel thought.

"When I met Wallace, I thought I finally found a person who could understand me. When he left, I guess you could say I was heartbroken."

 _Never do you understand the true worth of something until it fades away_. Noel and Kyrie both knew that sentiment well enough. The boy looked at the serene Digimon sitting on his lap while thinking about those words.

"What's wrong, Noel?" Bokhramon looked up as the stroking slowly stopped. He noticed tears well up in the boy's eyes.

"I'm sorry" Noel muttered, "I'm sorry for not being a good friend."

"Noel?"The goat Digimon nudged his human partner.

"You might not know, but you're a lot more precious to me than you think. I've taken your presence for granted but I rely on you so much." Noel hung his head low in shame.

He felt something refreshingly cold against his forehead. He looked and saw Bokhramon's head touching his temple. He saw those blue gleaming eyes, the colour of a bright sunny day contrasting his dominance over the element of ice.

"You can rely on me as much as you want. I won't mind one bit. I'll protect you with my life." The goat Digimon began to push Noel's head back up proving his point.

"I've been really selfish" the tears began to well up once more, "I was scared of fighting only because I was scared you would get hurt and I would lose someone important again. I never thought how you felt about seeing your friends risk their lives in every fight."

"Don't worry" the boy was face to face with those blue eyes. "I'll protect you. You aren't alone. I'll be by your side."

"Together…." Noel whispered as he took his Digivice, which was a shade of blue and gold, from the bedside table. He was still scared of what he would face. He was still scared of tomorrow and he was still unsure of his path, of his future but he was sure of the present. He had to accept it, come what may.

The device lit up as it came into contact with Bokhramon.

"….till death do us apart" the Digimon said as the link was established.

Noel thought of the colours on his Digivice. He hadn't noticed them before. A shade of colour could tell a lot of things. He wondered that if the device consisted of two colours, each hue could represent one of the components that made up a Chosen Child.

Or both hues stood for both the human and Digimon.


	10. Broken Wings,Stormy Winds

Chapter 10: Broken Wings, Stormy Winds

"So this is London, huh?" A tall and lean brown haired boy found himself admiring the city once he got out of the train. He wore a maroon t-shirt and faded jeans. He carried a large bag with him.

"Are we there yet?" A muffled voice asked from inside the bag.

"Yeah, we're here Fangmon" the boy replied to the Digimon hiding in his bag.

"About time" the Digimon remarked. "Where to now?"

The brown haired boy shifted his gaze to the blue sky. He wished he could fly through that endless blue, free from the chains that weighed him down experiencing the true notion of freedom. He then closed his eyes as a refreshing breeze blew past him.

The chain of the bag slowly opened as a shadowy head jutted out a little. "Wallace?" The Digimon called out.

"Wherever the winds take us."

"Huh?" The Digimon was confused.

"We'll go wherever the winds take us."

Wallace had also said those words to Kyrie once. Kyrie found it ironic how those words reflected her present situation. Staring into the blue yonder the black haired girl recalled memories both good and bad. She lay down upon the grass as her mind drifted. She and Wallace would hang out sometimes in Hyde Park in this particular spot devoid of people most of the time.

 _See ya_

She remembered those two words as the speaker of those words disappeared. He said it like it was nothing. As if he was going on a small trip and would be back.

"Liar" Kyrie thought. He had lied to both him and Aria. Why did he want to go to the Digital World? He said that he would have had to go sooner or later. "So why not sooner?" That was his reason. Was he not happy with them? They had first met in a fast food joint they both used to work at. When she saw him for the first time she saw an emotionless and mysterious youth. She wouldn't lie when she said that he was drawn to him by that same air of mystery.

To her surprise, he was drawn to her for the same reason.

They were both empty inside. That was the fact that allowed them to connect each other.

"Beautiful girls like you should smile more" Wallace once said something along those lines to her. It sounded like a cheesy pick up line but Kyrie never thought of it that way.

"Even if that's a fake smile? Even if it hurts to smile?" Kyrie asked him.

"True" Wallace relented, "those smiles are never perfect."

"Yet people like to see those smiles more." Kyrie was saddened by that idea.

"They want to feel like that there's something special in their lives. They want to have a reason to keep going on with their lives."

"Is a smile really supposed to be mean that much?" Kyrie never thought that such a simple thing could amount to so much.

"I don't know. I see some people helping out total strangers and all they get is a smile in return. I guess it does mean at least a little. I mean, why do you sing?"

"Cause I like to but I get your point. I mean the smiles you see when they liked your performance. I guess they do mean a lot."

Kyrie thought back to this particular conversation. After her parents died in a car crash she had found herself drifting through life. She was always used to doing what her parents told her but she did feel herself hating being told what to do. In a cruel way, she had found freedom from that but now she was lost in that freedom. She thought that it was because of her thinking that her parents died.

The world to her looked grey. She didn't understand how reality worked. Life was a drab and mundane affair. She learned to sing as a way to cope with the boredom that her empty life brought her. When she sang or wrote songs her worries would disappear and suddenly she found meaning in her existence. As days passed she found herself losing her inspiration for her songs.

She laughed. She had found Noel's excuses unreasonable and yet she was not even in a better state than him. She just wanted someone to share her troubles with. Kyrie had thought that Noel was a person who could understand her but she had forgotten that the boy was lost in his own troubles. She cursed herself for being so selfish. "Stand up" that was what the girl was commanding that boy to do even though doing said act hurt like hell.

"Sorry"- another word she had to tell him.

Kyrie got up. It was almost time to pick up Aria from school. As she walked away she passed by a familiar fountain and stopped to observe it.

The faded marble and shabby appearance hid the secret. No one would have guessed that this thing would have acted as a gateway to another dimension.

Kyrie sighed before she left.

-xxxx-

Aria stole glances at the clock. She always hated it when time would move slowly just to annoy her. As usual the teacher was rambling away like no one's business. She wondered whether they really get paid for blowing their lungs out. From her vantage point, the utmost back seat near the window which in her class was akin to a lottery win, she spied on some of the students.

Miranda was busy sending messages on paper to her boyfriend. Worst couple ever, in Aria's opinion. Though considering how full of themselves the both of them were, you could say they were made for each other.

Jake was busy reading a comic book, using his text book as effective camouflage. Well, at least that was better. She tried to get a better view in order to identify which comic he was reading but eventually gave up. "Stupid Jake" she muttered.

"Everyone pay attention!" Every time Aria heard that she would get a sudden urge to do the exact opposite. She decided to stare outside through the window- one of the advantages of a window seat.

She saw some teens play football like no one's business. She wanted to get out of here. Honestly, no one would care if she went up and left and yet she was stuck here.

"Lonely?" Qingmon mouthed the words as best as he could. He was hanging upside down outside the window. He had a habit of appearing and disappearing without warning.

Aria nodded. "Bored too" she said. Qingmon seemed to understand. He shaped his feathery hand into a fist and then extended all his fingers.

Rock, paper, scissors. Aria understood it well enough and thus the game started.

Rock…

Paper….

Scissors was Aria's choice which fell to Qingmon's rock. In the second round, Qingmon's paper caught hold of Aria's rock.

Needless to say the third round was a repeat of the first.

Qingmon wore a smug smile while Aria puffed her cheeks. "He's too good" she thought as she followed Qingmon's eyes during the game. Those purple eyes were always fixed on her arm and soon the girl got a good idea at how the bird Digimon was so good at this game.

Qingmon had always liked games. Aria had introduced him to a fair share from checkers to playing with marbles. While his shady looks may put off some people, in truth as far as Aria knew Qingmon was a very friendly creature. Once you get past his sarcastic streak, of course.

She could remember how they first met. Despite it being about 4 years ago she could still remember it clearly. It was often the more extraordinary things you remember when you live an ordinary life.

Qingmon had decided to take shelter in their house. He was crashing in Aria's room when she first met him. She wasn't scared or freaked out or anything like that. She was fascinated to see a creature like Qingmon. However above it all she felt special.

All those years she felt inferior to her elder sister. Kyrie was everything Aria wasn't. Beautiful, talented and whatnot. She wouldn't deny her jealousy towards her sister. So that day when she found that Qingmon had stumbled into her life and offered her to be a Chosen Child she felt special. She felt that finally she had something that Kyrie didn't. A feeling of accomplishment and purpose surged through her at that moment. Although she hadn't sealed the partnership yet, she would eventually. She was sure of that.

"Don't worry, Wallace" she thought, "I'll come visit you. That ought to be a surprise." The girl smiled at Qingmon who returned the smile.

Although Wallace had not kept his word she didn't mind. Maybe he was lost in the beauty of the Digital World- a world which no doubt was so much better than this world. It was another reason for her to pack up and go on her own journey to find him. Wallace never looked at Aria and thought back to Kyrie. For that she was grateful to him for seeing the two as separate people and not one inferior to the other. It was because of him that Aria could stop criticizing herself and not look at herself with feelings of dissatisfaction.

Yet, now she had lost "herself" once again. She looked at herself with frustration at how weak and ugly she was. She did not possess the same beautiful eyes as Miranda did. Her hair was short unlike Kyrie's long flowing hair.

But none of those mattered. She was a Chosen Child. That fact alone would disregard all the faults she had. It was that alone which counted at the end. This destiny, this future was apparently her saving grace.

"I've made up my mind" the girl told herself. She would be Qingmon's partner from today on. She had resolved to do it. Upon looking around, she found or rather did not find Qingmon. Another student was looking into the window. Aria glared at him prompting the student to look away.

"Aria Gray!" The teacher bellowed and Aria realized how screwed she was.

"How would you like detention for today? Not listening to my lectures tends to earn you that right."

"Not feeling up to it" was the answer Aria wanted to give but held her tongue or else it would be double the trouble. She saw Miranda and Collins laughing. Nothing too out of the ordinary.

Aria sighed. Guess being Qingmon's partner would have to wait.

-xxxx-

"I'll get the food ready in a minute" Kyrie said to Aria, both having returned to their apartment. Kyrie sighed, "next time you might wanna give me a warning about deciding to go into detention."

"Whatever" was the reply as the younger sister went to her room.

"It was a joke" Kyrie sighed once more. She started to go through the fridge to scavenge some food for them.

It was a modest apartment but it was possible to live in it. It was the best they could afford thanks to the money their relatives sent over. One could say the passing away of their parents had brought their family members together. Before she could hardly recall a proper get together with all their relatives and yet now they were supporting them from afar. The death of people often had adverse effects on their loved ones. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. It was impossible to stay the same, though.

"Aria might like some pudding" Kyrie thought as she searched the fridge for it.

"I might like some too." Kyrie turned around to confirm her suspicions. She would be lying if she said that she wasn't scared out of her wits for a moment.

It was Qingmon.

"I thought birds don't eat pudding" Kyrie replied.

"This bird can and he's hungry" Qingmon indeed was.

Kyrie saw that were two pieces left from yesterday. "You can have mine" she said.

"Won't you be hungry then?" Qingmon asked.

"I'll eat something else." She prepared the dish and gave one piece to Qingmon and proceeded to take another one to Aria's room.

"Hey, sis, open the door" Kyrie cried.

"It's open!" Aria yelled from the other side. When Kyrie had entered the room she saw Aria staring out through the window. "What does she see? Freedom?" Kyrie thought. She knew how much her sister yearned to go to that mysterious world. "Do you think you can find happiness there, sis?"

Kyrie put the dish down. "Make sure you eat it." With that she left closing the door lest her sister start yelling about it.

The black haired girl looked around. Qingmon wasn't there and an eerie silence took form. Never did silence scare her like this. When one is used to living in a world permeated with loud music and inspiring voices, a sudden silence akin to deafness was a fearful thing. She realized for a moment how alone she was. To escape it the girl decided to go to the rooftop.

The night sky was beautifully tragic. There were just a few stars far apart from each other. "Like us" Kyrie thought. She decided to sit down and look at the city.

"Stargazing?" Qingmon asked.

"Don't know what I'm looking for" Kyrie replied. Years ago when she first saw the bird Digimon she didn't have much to say about him. Initially against the idea, she couldn't say her opinion improved over the years. The only reason Qingmon stayed was because he had made such good friends with Aria and was one of the few times Kyrie saw her sister happy, which was enough to keep Qingmon in their household.

To her surprise, Wallace had also found himself entrapped by this sudden turn of destiny.

"He's dead isn't he?" Kyrie asked the Digimon.

"He could be for all we know. He hasn't returned" Qingmon voiced his opinion.

"Thank you," Kyrie began, "for not lying."

"You should know this."

"The risks of accepting this destiny? I didn't ask for this."

"Then your sister has to be my partner" Qingmon said.

"Why? Wasn't Wallace enough?" Tear began to well up in Kyrie's eyes, "Now you want to take my sister away too?"

"Do you hate us Digimon for that?" Qingmon asked.

"I don't hate you Qingmon. I just hate my fate."

"Do you want to change it?" Qingmon extended his hand revealing a digivice-silver and green were the hues.

"I don't think fate can be changed" Kyrie looked towards the device. "To protect Aria" she thought as she steeled her mind and proceeded to seal her fate.

"No, you won't!" The cry cut through the night as she saw a hand pulling Qingmon away.

"What are you doing?" Kyrie looked with dread at Aria who held Qingmon close to her.

"You took a lot of things away from me but not Qingmon!" Aria held the Digivice along with Qingmon.

 _Registering Chosen Child…._

"Don't Aria!" The older sister shouted but to no avail.

 _Link Established_

The words struck like a dagger in her heart and suddenly she recalled her own words. _Fate really can't be changed after all._

"Now we'll be together. Right, Qingmon?" Aria looked happy while Qingmon only nodded.

"Why?" Kyrie sounded angry. A bitter resentment and a hollow question posed to an invisible force that had no wish to answer it. "Why, Aria?"

"Because of you!" Came the shocking reply. Qingmon only looked on.

Kyrie demanded an explanation.

"You took too much away from me. You're better than me every way. No one cares about me. It's you. It's you! It's always you!"

"I just wanted to protect you" Kyrie's voice was about to break. Suddenly she realized how much hatred her sister bore for her. She wanted to still believe in her but now….

"I don't want your protection. I just wish….." Qingmon hung his head down as if to say sorry to the elder sister.

"I just wish you never existed!"

It didn't hurt as much as she expected it would have. Deep down, the elder sister must have known.

"So this is how you feel?" Kyrie began her voice barely above a whisper. "Then get out of my sight. I've had enough of this."

"Fine-" Aria suddenly felt a strong force knock her down. A large rumbling noise was heard as she saw something crash into the roof. She saw Qingmon get up, claws ready to tear the newcomer apart.

"Devimon, Champion level, Virus Attribute. Special Attack: Touch of Evil" Aria's Digivice lit up.

"What now?" Kyrie grunted as she saw the devilish black shape turn its blood red eyes at her sister.

"Get down from this roof" Qingmon told Kyrie as he proceeded to attack Devimon. To her disbelief she saw another Qingmon grab a hold of Aria and jump down from the roof. Devimon struck the Qingmon fighting him with his claws causing the bird Digimon to turn into a puff of smoke.

"A distraction?" Kyrie wondered as she saw the demonic Digimon jump down to the street below. The girl realized that she now had to take the more difficult route down, via stairs.

-xxxx-

Bokhramon had hardly seen Noel this serious. He was tapping away at the handheld gaming device. The goat Digimon really didn't understand what it was all about other than learning that a friend named Eric had lent him the device and the game saying that Noel would have liked it.

Though he was happy to see Noel not sad.

"Aww…" Noel got up. He had apparently lost. "Sorry about that, got carried away. The story of the game was kinda engrossing."

"It's alright" Bokhramon replied. "Can we get something to eat?"

"Hungry already?" Digimons had voracious appetites as the blonde haired boy came to find out. "Alright."

Noel escorted the Digimon to the kitchen and started scavenging for food. He at last decided on a packet of Oreo which they both began to dig into.

"Sometimes I think you use Bokhramon's appetite as an excuse to eat before dinner." Susan Keith had a smile on her face that read "I caught you two red handed."

Both Digimon and human turned- a biscuit in both their mouths. Noel's face was beginning to turn red.

The mother laughed a good laugh. "It's alright." She invited both of them over to the table.

"So how are you feeling now?" Susan asked her son.

"Not bad. Why?" He gave a biscuit to Bokhramon who was sitting on the floor.

"You look a little happier." Noel suddenly realized it.

"You think?" He asked to which his mom nodded.

"I know it's tough but hang in there, alright? I'll always be there for you" Susan said.

"I guess there a lot of people protecting me." Bokhramon looked up at his human friend. "Mom?"

"Yes?" Susan loved it when her son called her that. He was her pride and joy after all.

"If I told you, that I'm going to help Bokhramon fight and protect this world, what would you say?"

Susan Keith began to pull her son closer to her. "I'd have no choice but to let you go then. I'd just pray for your safety. Parting hurts but it would eventually happen anyways. I don't know much about this Digimon business but from what I could guess, if you don't take part in this fight the world could be destroyed but if you do succeed then I'll see you grow up to be a fine young man. Don't worry Bokhramon; you're a welcomed guest in this household so you can stay even after that."

Noel was glad he had such an understanding mother.

"Your father once told me that it's always alright to be scared. It's the scared people that are always the bravest when the time calls for it."

"Thanks."

It was then that he heard a knock on the door. Noel proceeded to open it and was caught by surprise.

"Noel…." Kyrie was out of breath and beside her Qingmon disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Kyrie…. What are you-"

"Please. I need your help."

-xxxx-

Aria was hiding. She heard the clash of claws and the smashing of concrete. She knew that she should be there for her partner but Qingmon had told her to stay put.

She heard a rumbling sound followed by a grunt.

"Shadow Strike!" That was Qingmon.

"I have to help him but how?" Aria wondered she decided to go out a take a peek at the battle.

Both combatants were evenly matched. Qingmon with his speed and ability to produce shadow clones had managed to avoid any direct hit. She might have been mistaken but she thought that something looked different about Devimon. He looked a little bit more monstrous with a spike jutting out from one of his shoulders. He was also moving quite haphazardly and seemed to gain a boost in his strength.

Qingmon stood still and Devimon charged in.

"Gale Reversal" the bird Digimon thrust his hand out stopping the attack cold and as an added effect blowing Devimon away causing it to crash into building.

"You did it!" Aria was ecstatic as she came out of her hiding place.

"No don't!" Qingmon shouted but it was too late as the shadow leapt at Aria.

"Ice Shield!" As the attack of the name dictated a barrier of ice materialized in front of the girl under attack which managed to repel Devimon's claw thrust. In turn the shield, being brittle, cracked into tiny shards.

Aria saw her sister, a blonde haired boy and a white goat Digimon come up behind her.

"Bokhramon!" Noel warned his partner as Devimon reared up for another strike. The goat Digimon triggered its Ice Shield attack. It cracked apart on the first hit leaving Bokhramon wide open for the second hit.

Noel watched in horror as he saw his partner being flung away like an insect.

Devimon wasn't done yet as he set his eyes on Kyrie and slowly approached her. Qingmon tried to attack from behind but was hit hard by the demonic Digimon who had anticipated it.

Kyrie tried to take a step back but realized the futility of it. If the demon wanted it could step in and crack her like a twig. It was approaching.

"Over my dead body" Noel stood in Devimon's way.

"You'll die!" Kyrie yelled but Noel stood undeterred. For a shocking moment, Kyrie thought that maybe that was what Noel wanted.

Devimon smiled as he grabbed Noel's neck and lifted him. The boy felt his lungs struggling for breath and his windpipe being crushed.

"Noel…." Bokhramon cried weakly.

"Just…..run….already" Noel struggled as his chest was burning intensely. When he had thought that he was about to draw his last breath he suddenly felt the grip loosening- the air returning. He saw a humanoid bull Digimon in front of him, one of its hands crushing the arm of Devimon that held the boy up in the air.

"Aurochmon!" The goat Digimon cried out seeing another of his friends.

Noel fell to the ground, breathing heavily. His neck had claw marks on it.

A grotesque sound was heard as Aurochmon applied more strength and soon Devimon's arm being a useless limb.

Devimon grunted in pain but something about him told Aurochmon that he was far from done.

"No worries" Noel looked towards the voice and saw Hiran arriving at the scene riding a skateboard. "You can smash his face in next."

Aurochmon complied as he lunged at the demon Digimon. Devimon struck at the blur with his good arm but the bull Digimon made grabbed a hold of it. With his free hand Aurochmon grabbed Devimon's head.

With a sudden burst of strength a loud crack was heard. Devimon found his head disconnected from his body.

Aria felt a sudden sickening feeling in her stomach.

It was then that all three Digivices on the scene lit up at the same time.

 _Entity Unknown_

 _Detecting Mutation in Digital Code_

Red circuit lines began appearing all over Devimon's body. His hands started moving again sporting bigger claws and spikes. Its thin, tall body bulked up more as his head became replaced with a more bestial one sporting a black mane. Another pair of wings burst open from its back.

"The hell?" Hiran thought as he saw the monster shrug off Aurochmon like he was nothing and disappeared.

"Everyone stay alert!" The bull Digimon bellowed. He knew Devimon was still there.

Qingmon looked around frantically. It had melded into the darkness once more.

"Noel!" The scream cut through the air just as the beast did as it lunged at the blonde boy.

Noel stood there paralyzed by those blood red eyes and those black metal claws. The creature descended from the sky like Death itself.

He felt a sudden shove and was thrown into the ground as he saw the same ground that he stood on erupt as a cloud of dust came out of it like smoke from a volcano.

Along with that tower of smoke he saw strands of white light flickering in the air. A sudden horrible realization hit him like a punch to the gut.

As the cloud slowly dissipated those red eyes stared at him once more. The black claws were stuck to the street they tore apart.

Kyrie covered her mouth with her hands.

Hiran felt sickened.

"No….el…." Bokhramon cried out weakly to his human friend.

"Bokhramon….." The expression on the beast's mouth resembled a smile-a sick, fanged smile.

"…BOKHRAMON!"


	11. Black and White

Chapter 11: Black and White

Eric walked into his room coffee mug in hand. He sat with his laptop as he saw the darkness settling in. While people would see night time as a time of rest and serenity, Eric knew of the shadows roaming free amidst this time. Digimon would be more active right now.

Especially that one.

He began tapping away. His Digivice was connected to his laptop.

"Well this is weird…" Eric muttered having met with an obstacle. He had been hard at work trying to unlock Astralmon's ultimate form. From unlocking his partner Digimon's champion form, he had taken note of a few things. All of the evolutionary forms had separate data. The data for the Champion forms were stored in the Digivice. But…

"I can't find the data for the Ultimate or Mega forms…" Eric mused. He had started work on unlocking Astralmon's Ultimate form but he had yet to locate where the data was stored. Breaking the security codes was another story in its entirety.

"Got any leads?" Eric asked Astralmon who was enjoying the digital comfort of his partner's laptop.

"If it's not in the Digivice, then there's probably only one place where it could be…." The text appeared on the screen. Surrounding it were various other windows- minimized and maximized alike. Eric was used to multitasking as he was used to working for long stretches of times. As much as he hated to admit it, he was quite restless and his hands didn't feel comfortable when they weren't tapping away at a keyboard.

"Yggdrasil…." The teen took a sip of his coffee.

Yggdrasil was the God of the Digital World and the one who had sent the Digimon on their task. Being a God of the world created from data, Eric had likened Yggdrasil to that of a supercomputer. It was a logical assumption on his part. What he had heard about said God came all from Astralmon, but Astralmon knew very less on the subject as none of the partner Digimon were made privy to information regarding the being in question. All they were made to know were details regarding their mission.

If Eric's assumption held true, the data for the Ultimate and Mega forms were held by Yggdrasil in the Digital World. While he now knew in which plane of dimension that the data existed in, he now knew that his task had grown difficult. He let loose an exasperated sigh. His eyes shifted to his Digivice.

"Is Yggdrasil aware of our movements through those things?" Eric asked.

"There is a possibility…" Astralmon replied.

"Can we trace the signal back?"

"Your desire for power is impressive" the virus Digimon noted.

"You don't have to sugarcoat it" Eric replied. "I don't want to take any chances. I'm hella unlucky."

"Do you think that you can't count on the others?"

"It's not that I can't count on them" Eric looked up towards the ceiling, "I just don't want to. The last thing I want to be is helpless. I believe that fights are won before they are fought."

"Can you say with a certainty that all battles will be won in the long run?" Astralmon asked.

It was a fool's errand to try and win every battle. Eric knew of the fact that the more fights he would partake in the greater the chances were of losing.

The fight against Devimon in particular was painful to remember. While Eric had expected it to be a tough fight he did not expect to be on the losing end. After his victory against Keramon, the teen had believed that he could have taken care of the threat. Sorely, however that was not the case leading to his present dilemma.

"That thing screwed us up badly" Eric admitted.

"I was the one who got ripped in half" Astralmon noted.

"Still there was something different about him" the teen loaded up a video of the fight he had recorded with Astralmon's help.

"He was much smarter. He could control other Digimon" Astralmon recalled what he saw before he had engaged the demon. There were very few with the ability to control other Digimon and it was not a natural ability. Although demonic Digimon like Devimon had strange and mystical powers, he doubted that a Champion like Devimon had enough power to subdue a ferocious beast such as Wendigomon.

"It's not natural" the Virus Digimon concluded.

Eric brought up a window on his laptop showing a map of London. His eyes shifted towards a red blinking dot.

"Should I intercept?" Astralmon suggested.

"The result would be the same" Eric reached for his phone and dialed a number.

"Yo, Hiran. Get your lazy ass to work. We got a Digimon in town."

On the other side Hiran was whining. It wasn't surprising. While Eric did not doubt Hiran and Aurochmon's strength and resilience, the teen still had a lot to improve on.

"I mean why do I have to go and take care of it? I took care of the giant bug" Hiran told Eric over the phone.

"Cause you're the one closest to it. Plus, Aurochmon is pretty powerful and should be able to handle it well enough." Eric smiled. Sometimes the right words would get you everywhere.

"Well yeah. You do have a point about Aurochmon being strong." Flattery would get you everywhere it seems with certain people.

"I'll leave it you then. Just remember don't Digivolve until you know you can't handle it. We want to keep the damage to a minimum." Eric put the phone down.

"He's not the brightest is he?" Astralmon asked.

"Nope" Eric replied casually, "but he's a good guy."

"Can he handle Devimon though?" Astralmon asked causing Eric to go silent. He was thinking.

"Unlike Cybermon, Aurochmon won't be overpowered but there's more to Devimon. All these Digimon; they've been escaping into our world from whatever's causing the two worlds to come together. All their movements had been completely random. Except for Devimon."

"Their species are known to be crafty but that doesn't explain Devimon's power to control other Digimon like that" Astralmon noted.

"If it's not natural, then it's probably a mutation in the digital code" Eric checked his Digivice. In his mind he thought of the possibility that whatever is causing the two worlds to collide could also be responsible for something like this. It was not out of the question. What were they up against?"

"The Digivice couldn't decipher some of the codes…" This had proved Eric's assumption about the mutation in the Digital Code. "Yggdrasil, didn't explain anything about what we're up against?"

"No" was the answer from Astralmon.

"Jeez…" Eric had to accept that he was at a massive disadvantage. He didn't like it when he was short on information. He checked the map once more. He noted two green dots. One was heading towards a blue dot. The other one was in close vicinity to Devimon.

"Qingmon is taking on Devimon" Eric noted. Qingmon had the ability to create duplicates of himself so that would have explained the two dots.

"Bokhramon…" Astralmon noted what the blue dot meant.

Eric reclined upon his chair. "Noel…."

-xxxx—

The sound of crumbling concrete and destructive blows could not reach Noel as he cradled the white creature. He glanced upon the wounded body of his friend, gravely scarred and marred by the demon's claws. His back was turned to the fight as the street came apart from the clashing of blows. He held his friend closer believing that some magic would work and bring him back to life. Like the tears that blurred his vision, the pain in his heart distorted his reasoning.

"Not again…." He muttered.

Aurochmon endured another strike by Devimon as he retaliated with a strong punch to the demon's face sending it reeling back. Rage consumed the Digimon as it impaired his ability to talk normally as now his only means of communication was throaty growls and bellows.

Devimon lifted his head. The last blow had horribly mutilated the left side of his head as it was smashed in like dented metal. Yet that did little to deter it as the jet black demon leapt once more at Aurochmon.

"Why?" Noel wondered whether he existed just to suffer. He wondered whether he would live just to see everyone close to him disappear. He wanted nothing to do with this. He had chosen to fight and now he result lay in his arms.

"It's my fault…." The boy held his friend tighter. "I'm sorry….Bokhramon."

Aurochmon withstood another strike as the force sent him crashing into the ground. He wasted no time getting back up and backhanded the relentless creature. Devimon, whilst recovering from the attack was soon bombarded by multiple Qingmon.

Kyrie stood besides Noel. She was speechless. She never expected something like this to happen. She had never wanted someone to sacrifice themselves trying to help solve her problem. Her heart was heavy with guilt. If she could, she would have traded places with the fallen Digimon.

"Aurochmon! Get outta there!" Hiran's words fell on deaf ears as his partner continued his assault. It was obvious that Aurochmon wouldn't last too long at this rate and yet his rage had blinded him so much that the bull Digimon was immune to the pain brought by his wounds.

Although Aria knew of the danger that Qingmon was in from fighting Devimon, she couldn't help but stare at the blonde haired boy. She didn't know him and neither did she know the other guy whose partner was locked in a deadly battle. Yet perhaps, she didn't need to know them. They were Chosen Children like her and for all she knew Qingmon could have also suffered the same fate as that white goat Digimon. That act of selflessness had made her wonder how much that Digimon cares for him.

"I'm sorry…" He felt the deathly cold. The chill that beckons you to come closer, leading you to despair and sadness. It was the same cold that one associated with death.

Aurochmon fell to the ground with a thud. He saw more than red now as the pain surged through him. He eyed his arm that lay a distance away from him. Tiredness soon overtook his body.

Hiran felt a sickening feeling in his gut. "Don't you dare close your eyes" the words were stuck in his throat. Qingmon laid helplessly, his body marred by those remorseless claws.

"Hold him" Noel gave Bokhramon to Kyrie and began to run towards Devimon's direction. "You stinking ass" Kyrie muttered once the realization hit her.

Devimon turned his eyes towards the boy. "The hell are you doing?" Hiran yelled thinking Noel had lost it.

The demon leapt at him. Noel hit the street as Devimon barely flew over him.

Barely.

Noel grunted in pain. He saw the sleeve of his shirt torn as the blood was flowing out profusely. While Devimon attacked like a savage beast he still had a good deal of precision in his strikes.

The demon turned once more as he launched another claw strike intending to skewer Noel. The boy barely rolled out of the way as the blades destroyed the ground he was on a few minutes ago.

"What happened to that brain of yours?" Kyrie muttered as he helped Noel up. Devimon took his claws out of the ground which Kyrie very well knew what it meant as she and Noel picked up their pace.

The demon reared its claws.

"We won't make it" Noel thought- no knew.

The claws came down upon them as Noel closed his eyes.

It was a horrible sound of shattered glass. Yet somehow, they were alive. Noel opened his eyes as he saw his savior.

"Bokhramon…." He managed to give form to the word stuck in his throat. Kyrie was almost brought to tears.

The goat Digimon had covered his wounds with ice as he struggled to stand up. "I won't let you hurt them…" It seemed to have taken all his strength to say that. Devimon seemed to have smiled at that.

"Get out of here!" Noel screamed, "You don't stand a chance."

The Digimon stood his ground undeterred.

"You'll get hurt!" The blonde boy was brought to tears.

"So be it!" Bokhramon replied. "If I get hurt protecting my friend, then I'll gladly get hurt."

Noel and Kyrie both moved out of the way as Devimon attacked once more. Noel had lost track of his digital partner amidst the dust.

Bokhramon was there were he feared the most.

The black beast swung its head back widely as energy swirled around its twisted mouth.

"No" Noel cried weakly. Before he knew it the girl was no longer by his side. He saw her running towards death himself.

"I don't want to lose them."

 _Primary Digital Matrix Set_

"I don't want to lose them."

 _Accessing Evolutionary Code_

Noel took hold of his Digivice.

 _Designation: Capricomon_

He wouldn't lose them.

 _Digital Evolution Process… INITIATE_

The two flashes of light collided as the resulting explosion illuminated the vicinity. For a moment night had turned to day.

For dawn had arrived…

The spectators stood awed by the giant ice crystals that became visible as the dust settled.

Soft cracks pierced the nightly silence and ice fell apart. Noel saw Kyrie holding on to the snow white limb of a beast. As the chunks of ice reduced themselves to mere shards the regal beast unraveled himself.

Capricomon, while still resembling a goat, was wildly different from his rookie form. He had a proud gait and his eyes were not the same warm blue eyes anymore but were cold sharp sapphires. Bokhramon's small horns had grown in size and were encrusted with ice. There were ridges of ice along Capricomon's body where the fur had grown even thicker as if to protect himself from his own powerful ice.

For a moment Noel had not recognized his partner. It wasn't until the Champion Digimon reared his head back to look at him did Noel see it.

A faint hint of a smile.

"Be careful" those were the only words that Noel could mutter.

Capricomon nodded and moved his head towards Kyrie. The girl could only watch in amazement as the gigantic goat leapt with a terrible tremor as he collided against the demon. Devimon grabbed a hold of those menacing horns.

A devilish smile escaped its face- almost as if the reaper enjoyed this new challenge. With a grunt he threw Capricomon into the ground.

With a mighty roar the Champion rose from the ground and leapt onto Devimon, both of them crashing into the pavement. Devimon swiped wildly with Capricomon jumping back in response. The reaper took flight and latched himself onto a building, his landing causing the glasses to shatter and the walls to cave in. The creature regurgitated a dark purple sphere of energy.

Capricomon retaliated by launching slabs of ice that collided mid air resulting a spectacular explosion and a shower of ice shards. The two eyed each other, waiting for a move.

Devimon couldn't bear the wait. The reaper launched himself like a corkscrew at the proud white beast. Capricomon jumped back again as the ground in front of him exploded. It was mere moments after that the blast of energy engulfed him.

Reeling back in pain, the white beast launched another barrage of crystals. Devimon leapt out of the way and launched himself upon Capricomon. The Champion Digimon caught the attacker between his horns and slammed Devimon into the cold hard ground. Capricomon went to the offensive as his mighty legs thundered down upon the fallen reaper.

Devimon caught the attack but couldn't stop the shower of crystals that Capricomon had summoned.

The ungodly scream was etched into the minds of all those present. Contorting madly, the beast tried to wriggle free of the crystals that pierced him.

With a violent twist Devimon loosened himself from Capricomon.

"This is the end of the line" the white beast announced. A majestic voice befitting the creature.

In violent response to that statement, Devimon roared and charged towards Capricomon grabbing his horns and lashing out violently.

Noel cried out for his partner who was struggling to find an answer to this sudden offense.

"Qingmon!" The Digimon responded to his name by climbing on to the back of Devimon.

"Now!" Qingmon shouted to Capricomon who prepared an attack. The white beast stomped the ground, releasing a gust of wind. Qingmon got down from Devimon, whose body started to freeze all over. The reaper struggled for not as his flesh became encrusted in ice.

Qingmon readied his claws. He took the role of the executioner.

The ice split apart and crumbled. The demon was no more.

Everyone stood in silence except for Noel. The boy walked towards Capricomon slowly.

Capricomon turned towards his partner as blue eyes met each other. Noel found himself standing in front of the majestic creature who lowered his head if he could read thoughts.

"Thank you" Noel hugged his partner. Capricomon started to nudge his partner. "Still the same guy" Noel smiled at the thought. A light enveloped the Digimon's body as Noel found himself hugging Bokhramon.

"Uh….Noel" Hiran spoke up. He didn't want to….

"Oh, Hiran" Noel had almost forgotten about him. "Sorry for missing your game."

Hiran was struggling with words. Until Noel had opened his mouth. Hiran could only face palm after that.

"What is wrong with you?" Kyrie sighed.

Noel reeled back in embarrassment. "Uh…. Mind if we talk about this later. I mean we almost got killed and well it's been a terrible night."

"Yeah….. Later, man" Hiran could only agree. Even if he knew that Noel was a Chosen Child, the night just took everything out of him.

Hiran and Aurochmon left. Noel was about to leave until he looked back at Kyrie.

"See you" he said,

"You too" the girl replied and soon Noel faded into the dark.

Kyrie then eyed her sister who was helping Qingmon with his injuries. Aria looked back.

"C'mon" Kyrie approached the Digimon and helped him up. "It's a long walk back home."

Aria nodded, too tired to say anything.

-xxxx-

Eric took a deep sigh of relief. While he was working his mind drifted to the ongoing battle. He couldn't work like that.

"They made it" he muttered, "thanks to Noel."

"Yes" came the reply from Astralmon.

Eric thought to himself how gravely he had underestimated the threat. "They could have died" he thought to himself.

He took out his Digivice.

"Planning on getting everyone together?" Astralmon asked from the comfort of Eric's laptop.

"We can't keep being so disorganized. If we planned out our tactics there shouldn't be anything to worry about."

Astralmon thought about those words. It was true…..to an extent. There was chaos in order and an over reliance on a system would inevitably cause trouble in the future. Yet Astralmon observed on. He found it amusing how he had found that a certain kinship had grown between him and Eric. When he was given his mission he didn't think of himself as much other than a means to save the Digital World. That was what he was created for.

Yet somewhere down the line, he doubted that. He enjoyed Eric's company far more than he did the presence of the other Digimon. He felt complete.

"Is it a glitch?" Astralmon thought. "Or is it something humans are capable of? Of changing?"

It was chance that brought them together and it could very well be chance that would dictate their future.

He was ready. He had Eric to rely on. Eric had him.


	12. Pieces

Chapter 12: Pieces

"This Chosen Child business is definitely dangerous" Susan Keith muttered as she bandaged her son's arm. "I thought it was your Digimon that was supposed to fight. Not you".

Noel could not answer. He looked at the ground. He couldn't find anything to say. He had jumped into a battle just because a girl, who he had met twice and barely knew, asked him. He had put his friends in danger and almost lost his Digimon partner and that was only his first fight.

While he stared at the ground, he realized that he had only one thing to say.

"Sorry."

Susan caressed her son's face. Noel could see the tears swelling up.

"I'm so sorry."

"Sometimes" the mother muttered as she brought her son's face closer towards her. "I think that we're gifted with things only so that they may be taken away".

"Mom…."Noel embraced his mother.

"I know this is something you have and that the fate of the world depends on it but it is so unfair to me. I already lost my husband. I don't want to lose you too."

"I'll protect him Ms Keith" it was Bokhramon who had seemingly recovered from the injuries. "Besides, he won't be alone."

Noel pondered on that sentence. His friend Hiran was apparently a Chosen Child like him. It could have been coincidence but either way it wasn't too bad to have him around.

"That girl…" Susan looked up.

"She's not a Chosen Child. Her sister is" Noel explained.

Susan grew thoughtful at that. Perhaps the mention of Kyrie's situation made her realize that they were both in the same predicament and a certain kinship had grown from that discovery.

"You seem to care for her deeply. The way you rushed out…" Susan giggled a bit.

"Mom!" Noel cried out. "It's not like that…"

Bokhramon was laughing around the corner.

"If you say so…." Susan laughed. "I wouldn't mind you know. She's very pretty." She burst out laughing soon after that comment much to Noel's embarrassment. Susan was definitely sad and afraid of the prospect of her son being a Chosen Child- that Noel knew very well. She tried to hide it amongst the giggles and serene laughter. He would know that very well since he did it very often. It was a type of lying that he was surprisingly good at. It was kind of amazing how many people would be fooled by a smile.

The conversation had distracted him from the pain in his arm- a reminder of how horrible things could go. Unlike Aurochmon his arm wouldn't regenerate. God knew how many battles he would find himself in and how many injuries Bokhramon would sustain.

"Maybe it was a bad idea" he thought and turned to look at his partner.

His eyes still held the same determination. He would have no problem going through that horrid experience again.

"If only I was even half as strong as you…" Noel thought as he got up. "I'm going to my room."

He immediately headed for his bed and tried to sleep but the throbbing in his arm prevented his eyes from closing.

"Damn" he shifted restlessly, thoughts accompanying the pain.

He wasn't worthy of being a Chosen Child.

The ringing of his cell phone brought him back to Earth. He shuffled clumsily off his bed and checked it.

"Eric…" Noel didn't feel like talking especially at an odd time like this. It would be rude to just decline the call and Eric was known to be persistent.

"Hello" Noel spoke into the phone.

"Noel, you free?" Eric asked.

"Not really" Noel lied. He was about to put down the phone before Eric said something.

"It's about the Chosen Children thing. Not a freaking football game. In case you didn't know, the fate of both worlds depends on it."

He knew that. "What is it?"

"I want all the Chosen Children to meet up and discuss things. Can you make it day after tomorrow?"

"I'll try" Noel replied.

"There's no trying" came the harsh reply. "You want to save the world? Then give it your A game."

"Got it" the call ended and silence resumed its reign.

"Noel?" The Digimon stared on with its innocent blue eyes. The boy turned towards his partner.

"I'm sorry but I'm scared" Noel crouched down as the goat moved towards him. He caressed the white fur once more. It seemed to relax him.

"You're not the only one scared, Noel" the goat replied.

"You sure don't look the part" Noel remarked. How much did this digital being feel or experience? Pain, hunger and taste. Such were biological in their constitution. What about emotion? To what extent did they experience them?

"How do you manage to be brave?" Noel asked.

"I don't know. I really haven't thought about it" Bokhramon replied. "You do that a lot though."

"What?"

"Think. You think a lot."

"Yeah. I do"

"What do you think about?"

"Lots of stuff." He used to like thinking. Lying in bed looking at ceiling and just letting the thoughts drift. It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. Hardly. He couldn't help it. The dark thoughts came naturally. Like a bad neighbourhood where the residents come out to wreck havoc from time to time.

"No one likes you."

"You're different. You'll never fit in"

Two common thoughts. Being a Chosen Child didn't help either. While he wasn't different in ways pertaining to race or anything that made him stand out he managed to get through most of school with only Julia and Eric. He was the quiet guy and he didn't like interacting with people fearing whatever they might think of him. He wasn't strong in that regard. Far from it. He admired Eric and Julia for being much stronger than him. There was no telling where he'd be without them.

"I guess it helps knowing you have someone to protect" Bokhramon replied. "I mean there are some people you always try to help regardless of how difficult it is. Maybe it's like that. You rushed in for Kyrie's sake."

"Then the mess happened" the boy remarked.

"You were really brave then"

"Stupid. Dumb. Reckless. All those qualify. Not brave".

"They can be one of the same at times"

"Nice words" Noel smiled. Some old memories swirled back. It was years back when his dad was still alive. Noel had come back from school. His father was home that day.

"Didn't have a good day, son?" His dad put down the paper.

"It's the same thing everyday" Noel replied.

"Well yes. Life is like that. If it wasn't monotonous you wouldn't have the great memorable moments"

"Shouldn't life be full of fun and adventure?" Noel raised an eyebrow.

"You'd be tired and lying on the bed after a few days" his father chuckled. "Life is many things. It's about doing things you may not like or thing you'll never end up doing. It's not fun. It's quite hard. At times you'll end up being lost and won't even know what to do."

"Stop scaring him" Susan told her husband as she came walking into room.

"I'm not scaring him" John laughed. It was hard to tell at times. He laughed so much.

"He's not" Noel replied.

"See?" John smiled.

"Then how are you so happy. Both you and mom?"

The husband and wife turned to each other and smiled. "That's cause we have each other" Susan answered.

"And we have you" John answered.

"Still not sure on what to do" Noel brought himself back to the present. "But there's really only one thing to do at this point. Keep moving forward I guess despite how scary it is."

"Well, I'll be there by your side" his Digimon replied. "But first, can we sleep?"

"Oh God, yes. So much happened I forgot I was even tired."

-xxxx-

"So what's your world like?" Gina asked Viperdramon.

"Our world? I didn't get to see much before having to leave for this world but I can describe the World Tree and the Garden for you?"

"World Tree?" Kevin wasn't really curious but he didn't have much to do then.

"Yggdrasil's residence and the place where we were born" the digimon answered stirring up from it's resting position.

Kevin stifled a laugh. "You were born in a tree?"

"Where were you born?" the dragon inquired.

"A hospital" Gina replied.

"Both of you were created in a hospital?" Viperdramon recalled what twins meant.

"Not created" Kevin corrected.

"Then how were you….?"

"Let's not go there. You continue."

Viperdramon gave up then. He gave up easily on matters considering humans. They were too complex. "As I was saying, the World Tree is where Yggdrasil is located. He oversees and runs all of the Digital World from there. The World Tree is huge reaching towards the sky even and has some of the strongest defensive walls set in to protect Yggdrasil."

"And the garden?" Gina seemed interested in that.

"It's a large area extending around the World Tree. Flowers and greenery everywhere. Digimon like to rest there."

"Is it beautiful?" Gina asked, "The garden?"

"Yggdrasil intended it to be the most beautiful sight in the whole Digital World. The whole garden is made out of data so Yggdrasil can alter it to look however he pleases and unlike the flowers in your gardens these are eternal and will never wither."

"Eternal beauty" Gina said, "doesn't sound nice."

Viperdramon looked confused while Kevin sighed.

"I think that it's the momentary nature of existence that really makes something beautiful, you know? Like you know the flowers will wither and die, that's what makes you appreciate them since you know they're not always gonna be there. I mean the thought that you won't be alive for ever is what drives people to do the things they want to do."

"Yggdrasil is a God. To him things are different" Viperdramon sounded like he hissed.

"Yeah but you're not that kind of being are you, Viperdramon?" Gina asked.

"You're boring him with the philosophical talk" Kevin smirked.

"She's not. It's just hard to take in" the Digimon replied. "So are you saying I should have the same opinion?"

"You could" she began, "or you could have a different opinion or no opinion at all. It doesn't really matter as long as you accept people for who they are." 

"What she's trying to say is that you're different. I mean you're a freaking a dragon. Doesn't change the fact that we see you as a friend" Kevin interjected. His sister looked satisfied with his reply.

Viperdramon dwelled on the word 'friend'. From where he came from he didn't know that word. He only knew how to fight to kill and yet in these years he has learned compassion from these two humans who took care of him more than the one who created him.

"You need a hug?" Kevin mocked.

"I swear to Yggdrasil. No hugging or this place burns" laughter ensued.

"So when are your friends coming?" Gina asked Kevin. She had heard about how the Chosen Children would meet up at their house. She asked if it was the de facto leader's responsibility to host all their group meetings and victory celebrations here. Kevin replied that they had a nice enough house to host.

"A day or two later"

"You excited?"

"It's a meeting. What is there to be excited about?"

"Not that. I mean first time you're part of a group like this. You'll get to be friends with people and save the world. Sounds pretty exciting."

"It's not meant to be exciting. We aren't here for a picnic. It's serious."

Gina looked saddened. His brother wasn't interested in bonding with these people. She wished he would realize that when they would travel to that alien world they would only have themselves. They would have each other's shoulders to cry on but only if they let them. Kevin wasn't one to go around befriending people, opening up to them and partaking in drama. She got up from the bed and spoke "you don't realize something. If you don't get to know each other and learn to help each other you'll never make it there. What kind of leader would you want to be?"

Kevin sighed, "I don't know. I don't know why Eric said it had to be me."

"Whether or not it had to be you doesn't matter now" Gina spoke up, "it's your responsibility."

"We don't get to choose what we get" Viperdramon walked to Kevin's side, "regardless; you need to carry out a duty to the best of your ability."

"They're like you, Kevin" Gina smiled, "you wanted that didn't you."

He did. People he could trust and people he could be open with. Eric had thought that he could make them follow his every order like soldiers. They weren't soldiers, just teenagers being dragged into something that none of them have the slightest idea about. They were being made to tackle an unknown world and something beyond their imaginations. How would he expect some teenagers to sign up for this and carry out such a dangerous mission?

"They're gonna face difficulties" Kevin spoke.

"Not just them, you too" Gina replied, "communication is more important here. Not just barking out orders."

Communication. Perfect, just what he needed. It wasn't that he was bad at that. It's that most people would have better luck opening a bank vault by randomly rotating the wheel than getting him to be open about his real thoughts. Not after what had happened so many years ago.

It was in 3rd grade. Some bullies were harassing a kid. A common sight but Kevin wasn't in the mood that day. He had frightened them off. The kid had thanked him and soon became his best friend. He had two best friends then. Two people who knew him for who he was. A few years later one had left for a different country and soon Kevin lost contact. It was what happened to the other that shattered him.

"You're cool with mixing with them?" Kevin had asked Willis in 7th grade, the boy he had saved from the bullies.

"Why wouldn't I be okay with em? Willis replied. He talked a lot louder. Before it was a timid voice. Kevin noticed that his present voice was a bit grating on the ears. Still, he was his friend, his best friend at that. At least he thought then.

"They're the guys that bullied you" Kevin replied.

"Hey, we've all changed and grown out of stuff like that" he replied.

Change, Kevin thought, a little more than he would have preferred. "If you say so" was the reply.

In 8th grade Kevin was greeted by silence in most mornings. Willis came late, spent a lot more time with those guys. Conversations ended up being shorter every day. He didn't like it. So he had confronted him.

"Kevin, you should really meet these guys, they're really awesome people" Willis told him before Kevin even got to the point.

"Despite bullying you?"

"The past is the past, man"

"You're changing"

"So? C'mon just get together with us. It'll be much more fun than the two of us."

Kevin told him that he would think hard about it and soon left.

Near the end was when things turned sour. Willis had gotten into a heated argument with Kevin after making fun of him.

"You weren't like this" Kevin said.

"Hey man, no need to get so worked up. We're friends" Willis's reply was the last straw. Kevin got up and knocked him off the bench he was smugly sitting on and onto the floor.

"What the hell?" He hissed.

"We're friends" Kevin spat and left. Throughout the next two years he worked on his mask. He ended up being made fun of by Willis and his group from afar but he stopped caring. It was an art form really-the act of distancing yourself and not caring. You practice and you end up getting used to it.

You might also forget what it meant to be yourself.

Maybe he could trust these people. Maybe he could give them a chance. He was broken once. Why not again?

-xxxx-

"What was that?" Steve asked his brother who was resting after a day at work.

"What?" Tom asked rubbing his eyes. Staring at computer screens was not fun for the eyes. Work had been rough today. More than that however was the story he had heard.

"That thing that attacked" Steve tried to form his hands into scythes to mimic the monster but his brother didn't bother to look.

"Why would you think I know?" came the tired reply. Ada had told him about her meeting up with Lysandre at the museum- narrated it even.

"You're a scientist" argued Steve.

"You've been watching too many monster movies" Tom sighed. "Yes I do research but I'm not a biologist that I'd have a clue about monsters" that in fact was a lie. Digimon as their names suggested were made out of data and it was Tom's job to handle data. He had wondered how he got drawn into this. Creatures made out of data, the thought confused him. What were the chances? He had never sat to wonder how he had found himself in the midst of this.

"There's something much bigger than this" he thought. Something made him get up from the couch. His brother called out to him but he wouldn't respond. He was deep in thought.

 _Did Lysandre know about the existence of Digimon?_ Tom was imaginative at times but this was borderline crazy. Yet somehow it seemed to make sense. There were too many oddities and he as well may be just a bystander to this whole thing but what if?

 _What if Lysandre knew about all this? What if the research facility served a bigger purpose than just processing data?_

He thought about it. He was a graduate when he had heard about Lysandre. Not just him though.

 _No one could possibly do this alone. He had a close confidant._

"Dr. Henry Dunbar" he muttered. His brother look confused.

D.A.R.P.C had a different purpose than he thought. It was just a front. Lysandre and Henry were working on something together involving the Digimon. Dr. Henry Dunbar wasn't the biggest name in the scientific world. His rise into fame was quite sudden in fact. Yet at a certain point the two names got entangled. Newspapers would feature these two closely and more often than not working on similar projects-projects that apparently would revolutionize science itself.

He recalled the car ride with Dr. Henry.

Adaptive programming.

Programs that would evolve and adapt to their environment.

He thought to the day he saw Viperdramon and Saladramon.

"Good God" he muttered.


End file.
